A leader's burden
by Dragonstar13
Summary: 3 years have past from the flame champion saga. As Hugo, Chris and Geddoe begin their new lives, a new turn of events happen. A new tale unfolds in the Suikoden's History, beginning with possession of the True Wind rune. Updates within
1. Default Chapter

Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

Also, if you see any mistakes I've made please notify me so I can fix it right away. Or if you wish to become my beta reader then e-mail me and I'll think about it. My writing skills are pretty poor, so if something doesn't make sense, I'll try my best to correct it.

Update: I'd like to thank Shinji Ikari for his review. I looked back and saw the mistakes I made and fixed them the best I could. I also forgot to give credit to the website I got most of my information from. www.gamefaqs.com and www.suikosource.com are the 2 sites I got my information from. I may change the title, if I do I will inform it on the summary.

A leaders burden

Its been 3 years since the elemental war. Hugo was now chief of Karaya, as well as the flame champion of the grasslands. Despite all these great titles, Hugo secretly wished to leave the grasslands and explore the world. Geddoe was still part of the Harmonia defense force, and was happy with his comrades. Chris remained as the captain of the Zexen knights, though she still hates the title of a hero. She wanted to do something more in her life, yet she doesn't know what.

On one fateful night, there were two boys running away from Zexen guards. The dark shadows of the night covered over Brass castle like a blanket. The Zexen guards ran through Brass Castle yelling for them to 'halt'. They continued to chase the boys until they reached the kitchen. There was no where to hide, the guards knew they had the boys cornered. After looking at each other and giving their usual nods, they burst the door open to find an empty room. The boys had mysteriously vanished in the darkness like shadows. The guards shook their heads and tried to look through every inch of the castle. There was no trace of either of them.

"What should we do now commander?" asked one of the guards.

"Spread out." he growled. "They couldn't have gotten far."

The soldiers nodded their heads and headed out of the castle to continue their search for the two boys.

Little did the soldiers know, the two young men running through the sewers right below them. Their foot steps echoed through the halls, bouncing from wall to wall. Whatever monster woke up, the two lads were strong enough to take care of them.

"We're almost at the end." Said one of the boys.

Out of nowhere, someone had jumped right in front of them. "Where do you think you're going?" the voice snarled. The person held out their weapon right in front of one of the boy's faces.

Both boys drew out their weapons ready to strike the stranger, when the door suddenly revealing a tall dark shadow.

~*~*~*~

Earlier that day…

Chris rode her mighty stead into Brass castle, where a roar of cheers welcomed her. Everyone would turn their heads to see the silver maiden, the hero of Zexen. Chris has recently come back from battling the Karayans and the Lizard clan. The battle became a draw since both armies were equally matched, and the armies were equal as well.

As Chris saw the people cheering her name, she smiled softly and let out a sigh.

"Is something wrong Lady Chris?" Louis asked tilting his head.

"No, its nothing." she answered shaking her head. As they rode into the city, something caught Chris' eyes. A young boy who slightly resembled the flame champion walked right past her. Ignoring the parade that everyone was excited about, his eyes were full of determination and were preoccupied. Those eyes, that look. Who was he? For whatever reason he was doing in Zexen, it must have been important if he was ignoring such a joyous occasion. Chris' attention of him finally broke when they entered the castle.

The knights rode into the center of the castle and relaxed in the meeting room. Chris sat down in her usual seat, while Salome prepared some tea for her. Leo dropped into his chair and laid back leisurely. Percival and Borus went in their usual spots, while Louis took a chair next to Chris. Roland as usual, leaned back against the wall.

"Another welcoming." Percival smiled. "If this keeps up Chris, they'll name a holiday after you."

Borus frowned at the comment and looked at Chris.

Chris shook her head. "I hope not. I'm not too fond of the title I have right now."

"Lady Chris, you seem tired. Why not rest up?" Louis suggested.

"I think I will. The battles lately have been exhausting." Chris placed a hand on the brow of her head and sighed. She rose to her feet and started to walk towards the door. The others watched her leave with a concerned look.

As the door closed, Borus looked at the others. "What should we do? Chris seems to be more depressed these days."

"I've noticed." Salome frowned. "She seemed happier when we were working with the grasslanders."

"So you think she's happier working with the them?" Percival asked.

"No," Salome shook his head. "What I'm trying to say is that Chris smiled less when she became the captain. Perhaps since Hugo and Geddoe were there to help share the burden of being a leader, Chris felt more balance. As you all noticed, she hates her title as a hero."

"I think she'll be okay." Louis said smiling. Everyone turned to him with a curious look.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Chris had this expression before. But I think she now realizes how many people believe in her. This is her home, our home, and she wants to protect it. Even if it means to have the leader's burden."

"I guess so." Leo sighed.

There was a long pause before Percival made his suggestion. "Hey, how about me and Salome cook dinner tonight. We'll make something special for our Goddess."

"Its not super pickles is it?" Borus frowned.

"Come on, the stuff we cooked for you guys last time wasn't that bad." Percival laughed.

Louis giggled. "Well this time I won't let you get me drunk."

The knights laughed as they thought of ideas for Chris' special feast.

After the great feast, Chris went back to her room. Noticing the moon from her window she became more drawn upon to it. Leaning close to the window she looked at the night sky with the brilliant silver moon shining upon her.

"The fight today was longer then usual." Chris frowned and then looked at her right hand with a smile. "I guess its because our runes equal each other out. I'm glad that he became the chief of Karayan. The boy has potential, and I can't wait to fight him again." Chris continued to smile and think about the current events. She had to admit, if the grassland and Zexen were at peace, life would be boring for her. However, she wouldn't mind a quiet life either. Despite everything that was happening, she still felt empty inside. She hated working for the Zexen council, but wanted to protect her country. "Why do I feel this way?" Chris asked herself. Perhaps its because she is still the captain of the Zexen knights, even thought she was the most suited to lead the Knights, she still hated having a leader's burden. Chris shook her head from the negative thoughts inside of her. "I can't do this to myself again. I have to think positively. Just like Hikaru. There are too many people depending on me. I can't and won't let them down." With that said, Chris felt better about herself, and was about to go to bed when she heard a noise. She looked out the window to find some guards running around. They were talking to each other and seemed to be looking for something. Chris opened her window to talk to them. "What happened?" She asked one of the guards.

"Oh, milady. Sorry for the disruptions." He bowed. "We are trying to arrest two rats that fled from Vine del Zexen."

"What are the charges?" Chris asked.

"Apparently they stole something from the council." The guard shrugged.

"What is the item?"

"We don't know." the guard shook his head. "The council would not tell us. They said to retrieve the box the rats stole, but not to open it."

Chris placed a finger on her chin. "Alright. Please continue with the search then."

"Yes Milady." The guard bowed and went back to his duty.

Chris got her armor on and went through the secret passage way Nash showed her. She wondered who try to steal something from the council, and what they stole. Whatever it was, it must have been important. She ran towards the end of the tunnel and opened the door. There was no one there. Was she too late? No, there were foot steps approaching. She hid in a corner of the dead end and waited for the boys to come closer.

"We're almost there." called out a familiar voice.

Chris closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then she jumped in front of the two boys. "Where do you think you're going?" she snarled. The boys got their weapons out when suddenly the door opened to reveal a dark figure looking down on them.


	2. Geddoe's story

A leader's burden 2

A day before the fated day, Sasarai was in the Harmonia court. He bowed in front of the High Priest Hikusaak as the other Bishops stood tall against the wall. As if they were almost like statues. Putting on his usual calm and caring face, Sasarai asked kindly, "What do you wish my Lord?"

"The True Wind rune." The Priest said bluntly.

"The one that was given to 'him'." Sasarai sleepily nodded. "Has it been found?"

"Yes, the council of Zexen had obtained it after the Elemental wars. The council has offered it as a present to form an Alliance, they want to become first class citizens. Sasarai, I want you to assign a small unit to retrieve it."

Sasarai bowed to his leader. "I will my Lord."

"You are dismissed."

Sasarai nodded and bowed once more and then turned to leave the room. He knew just the right people for this particular job.

Moments later, Sasarai came to Caleria with Dios to find his small unit. He entered the bar where Queen and Joker were kicking back a few drinks. Geddoe, as usual was sitting at the bar table by himself. He preferred to be alone with his thoughts then talking to others. Sasarai sighed and went up to the tall dark haired man.

"Do you think this is wise?" Dios asked. "After all, they did go against our army during the elemental wars."

"Yes, but they're the best mercenaries around." Sasarai shrugged.

"Wouldn't it be better if you and I just went. Do we really need them?" Dios titled his head as he looked at the crew kicking back their drinks.

Sasarai shook his head. "Perhaps we could, but we have more important things to do now that we lost Le Buque. We'll assign them knowing we hired the best." Sasarai walked towards the leader of the pack, Geddoe. Who was sleepily looking at his empty cup. "Mind if we join you?" Sasarai asked.

Geddoe didn't even bother to look at him, he merely waved his hand over the empty chairs beside him. Sasarai and Dios nodded and took the seats. "So what do I owe the honors of seeing the High Priest again." he asked dryly.

Sasarai smiled softly at him. "We have an assignment for you."

"What is it?"

"The Zexen council has offered us the true Wind rune that was obtained after the Elemental wars. I want you to obtain the item and report back to the holy country Harmonia."

Sasarai stared at Geddoe who still didn't change his position. It was hard to tell what the man was thinking since he face rarely changes.

"And the payment?"

"50,000,000 potches sound fair?" Sasarai asked curiously.

Geddoe blinked and sighed. "The rune must be very important if Hikusaak wants it that badly."

"So you'll take the job then?"

Geddoe nodded. "I guess. I'll gather my group to leave." Geddoe got up from his seat and looked at Queen and Joker. They both gave him a serious nod and got up from their table, then followed him out of the bar.

Dios watched them in awe while Sasarai had his cool calm mask on. "My, they really do get down to business." Dios said shaking his head.

"Its expected." Sasarai smiled. "They are the best."

Outside of the Calerina hotel, everyone gathered around Geddoe. Jacques and Alia were shopping around the market when they were suddenly called by Queen. Ace joined them after he was done with some paper work at the head quarters.

"So what's going on?" Queen asked with a curiosity in her eyes. "What did the Bishop want?"

The group eagerly went around their leader with open ears and anxious eyes staring at him. Geddoe held a seldom sigh. "We were assigned to obtain the True Wind rune."

"The True Wind rune?" Joker frowned.

"Didn't that belong to that boy Luc?" Ace asked looking at everyone else for some response.

Geddoe nodded after a moment of silence. "The Zexen council has it."

"So then they must of taken it after the war." Joker growled coldly.

"So it was stolen from Luc's corpse." Alia held a bitter face and looked towards the ground. 

Ace shook his head and looked back at Geddoe. "So what did you say Boss?"

"I took the offer. The mission pays a large amount." Geddoe shrugged.

Everyone looked at each other then nodded. Queen then walked forward towards Geddoe. "Well if that's what you think is best, we'll do it."

"Lets go then. The sooner we get it, the sooner we're paid." Geddoe walked past them and headed out of Caleria.

Once again, Geddoe and his band of mercenaries were off towards another mission.

They cut through the grasslands and passed through Zexen's forest at ease. As they entered Vine del Zexen, Ace took a deep breath and sighed. "Here we are. Vine del Zexen, again." Ace's lips curved into a smile as he savored the peaceful scene in his home town.

Alia turned her head from side to side. "It's a lot more peaceful then the last time we were here." As Alia looked around, she saw one of the knights glaring at her. "But the place still stinks of iron-heads."

Queen lightly pushed Alia forward. "Come on, we have work to do."

The others followed quietly after Alia and Queen. They arrived at the front of the Zexen Council. The Council members were sitting around the round table and looking at Geddoe with judging eye.

"You're the one who Harmonia sent?" one of the members asked.

Geddoe glared at them with a cold stare that snap their spine. "And what of it."

"Uhm, nothing. I didn't mean any disrespect." The man could feel the sweat running down his face as he was shaking in his chair. "Please have a seat."

Geddoe looked at the empty chair and place himself in it. He folded his arms and leaned back slightly. "The Bishop said you had a special gift for Harmonia."

The council men nodded at each other. "Yes, but we want to negotiate our terms." The council member took a hard gulp as his looked at Geddoe's unemotional face. From reports of the elemental wars, Geddoe was strong enough to destroy the council building without a second thought. "We recently sent a messenger to report our new terms to Harmonia. I'm sorry, but if you would be so kind to wait until tomorrow to pick up the item we would be grateful."

Geddoe sleepily looked around the room and then at the Council member across from him. "If we have to waste time staying here, then I want you to pay for our accommodations here."

"Yes, of course." The man nodded in a stiff motion. "You will be our guests while you're here."

"Fine." Geddoe got up from his seat and headed for the door. "Send a messenger when you're done negotiating." Geddoe closed the door behind him and could still hear the council men talking. Some of them called him a barbarian. The others called him a monster. Geddoe smiled slightly and then left the building to report back to the others. Ace and Joker were arguing about who good Joker's skill were. They all turned to Geddoe as he approached them.

"So how did it go Boss?" Ace asked tilting his head. "Where is the rune?"

"We need to stay her for tonight until the new terms from Harmonia have been approved." Geddoe gave no reaction to the annoyed looks on his group.

"Who do they think they are." Queen frowned. "If they ask too much, then Hamronia will surely go to war just for that rune."

"It can't be helped." Joker threw his hands in the air and shrugged. "Lets just stay at the lodge for today and wait. At least I can get a few drinks while we're here."

Queen nodded to the suggestion. "Better then standing and doing nothing I guess. I'll join."

"Hey can I get a soda then?" Alia asked excitedly.

"Is that all you guys can think about?" Ace lectured and pointing his finger at Queen and Joker. "No wonder you're both losing your touch."

"Like you're completely innocent." Joker pointed back. "You usually spend our well earned cash on the prettiest thing you see."

"Hey I don't do that anymore." Ace frowned. "Besides it can get lonely on our missions sometimes, so it might be nice to have someone to think about during our journeys."

"Oh brother." Queen smirked.

Geddoe quietly smiled as his friends fought.

Later that night, Geddoe was in his room where the rest of his group were still drinking downstairs. Ace also left earlier for unknown reasons, so Geddoe was to himself for the time being. He enjoyed having a peaceful evening to himself. He never liked to talk since he always said what was on his mind without thinking. Geddoe began to remember the time he was with Hikaru and Wyatts. How Hikaru inspired the lives of many during the war against Harmonia. Even though Geddoe and Wyatts had the true rune as well, Hikaru had light that would give the hopeless hope. Geddoe then thought about Chris and Hugo, how both of them were similar to his old friends. "You two would have been proud to see them." Geddoe closed his eye and let the sound of the ocean take him away.

Out of nowhere, a clanging noise disturbed his restful thinking. It was the sound of the soldiers running. Geddoe went downstairs to see what the noise was about. It couldn't be another attack, could it? When Geddoe arrived downstairs, Queen, Joker, Alia, and Jacques were waiting for him.

"We heard some noise outside, what do you suppose it is?" Queen frowned.

"They're probably chasing someone again." Alia shook her head, remembering the time Hugo told her the story of what happened when he first came to Zexen. "If it was a something important they would of set the alarm."

Joker shook his head. "Ace isn't here yet so it might be possible that he got himself into trouble."

Queen smirked at the comment. "That's not surprising knowing him."

"Should we check to see if he needs our help?" Joker asked Geddoe.

Geddoe nodded at them. "We might as well. We should find out the reason why they're chasing him." Geddoe and his party went outside to follow the running soldiers. They could hear the soldiers yelling for someone to stop. The voices started to become louder, then they suddenly stopped. When Geddoe arrived, he only found soldiers who were now sleeping.

Queen kneeled down to one of them. "I didn't know Ace was good at wind magic."

Joker shook his head. "I don't think he is. We'll ask him when we find him."

Everyone nodded at each other and continued to chase after the soldiers.

Two soldiers met up with each other and both saluted. Then they started to exchange information.

"Did you find the thief?"

They nodded. "He went into one of the alleys. We had just surround him."

"Good, lets go then. We won't let him escape with the Wind rune."

After the soldiers left. Geddoe and the others came out of the alley where they were listening to the conversation.

"The Wind rune!?" Queen frowned at the complicated thought of Ace stealing such a valuable item. "Why would he steal that."

"Do you think Ace took it?" Alia had a worried look on her face.

Queen shook her head. "I doubt it. That wouldn't make sense."

"Lets go then." Joker suggest.

They began to run towards the alley the soldiers were talking about, when they came about mid-way of the destination, Alia crashed into someone. Alia rubbed her sore butt and snarled at the man she ran into. "Watch it." Alia barked at him.

"Hey, you ran into me." Ace pointed back.

Everyone gasped as they all looked at Ace. "Ace, what are you doing?"

Ace looked at everyone with a confused look. "What did I do?"

Queen glared at him, "Didn't you steal the wind rune?"

Ace's eyes were in shot wide open and his mouth dropped open. Waving his hands in front of him and said, "No, why would I do something that dangerous."

Joker bent over with his hands on his hip and asked, "Then where were you all this time."

Ace started to laugh nervously. "Uh that's a secret." Ace rubbed his head nervously. Suddenly he realized something and jumped to his feet. "Wait, is that why the soldiers are running around right now?"

"Yes." Joker nodded. "It appears that they have corned him in the alley near the rune shop."

"Then lets go." Ace said excitedly, he started to run when suddenly there was a bird's cry. Ace stopped in his tracks as the bird continue to squall. They all looked up and saw a Griffon flying away.

Everyone's mouth, except Geddoe, dropped. Geddoe's eye narrowed as he began to understand what was going on. Everyone shook their heads and couldn't believe it. They all ran towards the exit of Vine del Zexen and continue to chase the Griffon. Just as they were on the outskirts of the city, Geddoe raised his hand to stop the group.

"Wait." he said in a cold hard voice.

Everyone turned to their leader. "What is it?"

"We should go to Brass castle." Geddoe pointed out.

"Brass castle?" Alia titled her head and then look forward to Brass castle. "Why there?"

"If the thief is who I think it is, then he wouldn't risk having his beloved pet shot down in the air."

"You think its Hugo." Alia knew it had to be Hugo. She didn't know anyone else that could control a Griffon.

"I see. If he went over Brass castle, it would risk Fubar getting shot from the sky." Ace looked up at the sky and then ahead to Brass castle. "But if Hugo isn't riding him, they'll think he's just another griffon."

Alia shook her head. "Why would Hugo steal the rune in the first place though?"

Geddoe gave a straight forward nod and a gesture saying, "Lets go."

Geddoe and his group snuck into the city and waited to see if there were anymore guards around. One of the soldiers said that the two boys disappeared in the kitchen. They must of slipped by them somehow. The soldiers continue to search the castle for the thieves. After eavesdropping the soldiers, Geddoe and the group came out of hiding.

"Two?" Jacques said quietly. "Could the sergeant be the other man behind this?"

"It couldn't be." Queen shook head and then put a hand on her hip. "The man said boys. The sergeant doesn't look that young to me."

"I know where they went." Geddoe frowned and started to go into the forest near the castle.

His party followed him into the woods, wondering what Geddoe was up to. They could still hear the soldiers running around Brass castle looking for the boys. When the group reached the other side of the entrance to Brass castle, Geddoe had stopped at the door under the bridge of the entrance. Geddoe then put his hand on the door and leaned close enough to hear the voices inside.

"Who's in there?" Queen asked as she stared at the door. "Is it Hugo?"

"We'll see." Geddoe turned the knob and opened the door to find Chris, Hugo and another boy. Geddoe gasped as the appearance of the boy, he reminded him too much of someone long ago.


	3. Hugo's story

Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

A True Rune's burden

A month before the fated day, Hugo was in the open fields of the grasslands. He would often come there to train himself. He swung his knife in the air, swirling like the wind itself. Hugo was dancing in the wind. The spirits followed his every move, floating around him like fire flies. Finally, Hugo planted his feet to the ground, and closed his eyes to feel the cool breeze against the back of his neck. Hugo turned his head to his beloved pet Fubar. Fubar gave a caring coo as he looked at his friend.

"That should be enough exercise for today." Hugo nodded in satisfaction. He smiled kindly at Fubar before petting his soft neck. "We should go back to the village now. I bet Beecham is making loads of work for me to do."

Fubar nodded and started to head for the village, then he looked back at his master who was mounting on the Kayaran horse.

"Lets go then." Hugo grinned as the horse began to gallop. Fubar followed and sqealed in excitement, as if he was announcing Hugo's return to the village. They ran through the giant plains and arrived at Kayara in a matter of minutes. When they entered the village, Hugo could hear Beecham calling for him.

"Hugo!" Beecham roared.

Hugo sulked as his horse approached the old man. "Beecham, I…"

"Chief Hugo." Beecham frowned and threw his hands into the air. "You have to take your role more seriously. You're the chief of the village. What would happen if you weren't here and the village was under attack?"

Hugo nodded his head and shrugged. "I know I know. I'm responsible for everyone now that I'm chief."

"That's right. You're also the one who is suppose to make the important decisions for us."

"Alright, so what's the matter today." Hugo asked as he slid off his horse.

"This." Beecham held out a piece of paper with small writing on it and a seal on the bottom. "The peace treaty between the grasslands and the Zexen federation. All of the chiefs from the other villagers have signed it. You're the only one left. Please read it carefully."

Hugo's eyes shot wide open and his mouth dropped to his neck. "You mean I have to read this whole thing?"

Beecham folded his arms and titled his head. "Of course, do you have a problem with that?"

"Its so long, and how can I understand all these terms. It'll take me the whole day."

"Well then, its best you start reading it now. Zexen wants to see it in two days." Beecham frowned as he walked away.

Hugo studied the paper sadly and rubbed his head. "I guess I have to start reading."

Fubar cooed and titled its head at Hugo.

Hugo petted the griffon's head and smiled. "Sorry, this is something only I can do. You can go back to the open fields if you want."

Fubar shook his head slowly and looked at Hugo with his big, bright, eyes.

Hugo's lips slowly gave in to a smile and let a sigh. "Alright, but I warned you, this is pretty boring stuff."

Fubar nodded happily and followed Hugo into the village. They sat in the center of the village where a bright fire was burning. Fubar nestled on the soft ground while Hugo leaned back on him like a large pillow. Hugo continued to read the treaty. There were some words he didn't understand, and the treaty seemed complicated. Hugo took another deep breath as he scrolled down to how much more he had to read. Shaking his head, he continued where he left off from the paper. The writing was so small, it was hard to tell what the words were sometimes. The blue sky quickly turned to a black night sky. The stars twinkled and glittered through the night. Hugo yawned from exhaustion. The paper seemed to keep going on and on. He was on the last paragraph and sighed in satisfaction. "Finally." He said sleepily. "When I write my report, I'm requesting for the font to be bigger." He grumbled. Hugo continued to read when he heard a noise outside the village. Hugo shook his head and assumed it was a wild animal.

Fubar quietly woke up from the sound as well.

"Its probably nothing." Hugo assured Fubar.

Fubar looked at the direction where the sound came from and titled his head. Then Hugo heard the sound again. It wasn't an animal. It was the sound of a man screaming for his life. Fubar jumped to his feet and stared at the direction.

"I heard it too." Hugo narrowed his eyes. Hugo nodded at Fubar and jumped on to his back. "Lets go."

Fubar flew into the air as the battle in the grassland started to become serious. The Kayaran villagers began to wake up and check what was going on. Beecham came outside to see what the noise was. A large blast of smoke was rising into the air.

"What on earth is happening?" Beecham asked angrily. "Call the soldiers and the guards. Have the guards surround the village and the rest of the soldiers will follow me."

Meanwhile, Hugo and Fubar soared around the area where the blast of fire came from. Then he saw an unusual beast attacking a group of soldiers. It had 3 heads, and a large body that was covered in fur. Its eyes were glowing yellow and its mouth snarled like a wolf's. They didn't look like Zexen soldiers though.

"Why won't you die?" the soldiers asked. "We used all our magic spells on it."

The beast continued to growl and began to attack them again.

Hugo shook his head. "It looks like they ran into the beast by accident. They shouldn't travel during the night." Hugo frowned. "Fubar lets go."

Fubar gave out a war cry and flew down to where the beast was. The beast looked at Hugo and began to roar. Its breath was poisoned and Hugo could feel the air eating his flesh and getting into his body.

"Damn, I was careless. We have to take him out first so we can heal ourselves." Fubar nodded and charged at the beast. The beast dodged the attack, and bit Hugo's arm when he tried to attack. "What kind of monster is this?" Hugo wondered. "Damn, what is this poison. Its eating at me so quickly." Hugo's vision started to blur, the monster continued to charge at them. Hugo shook his head and began to concentrate on his fire magic. Hugo used 'Final flame' so he wouldn't hit the soldiers by accident. The beast cried out and then shook off the fire.

"What?" Hugo was left in shook. The monster absorbed the fire magic. Hugo's strength began to leave him. His head started to feel heavy, and he couldn't feel his hands anymore.

Fubar and Hugo fell to the ground, drained from their strength and could no longer fight. "Out of all things…" Hugo gritted his teeth. "To be defeated by a wild animal." Hugo's eyes shut and he dropped on the soft ground.

As the monster was about to devour its prey, a cool calm voice spoke out the words, "Judgment." The beast screamed at the amount of pain the spell did to it. The beast charged at the boy who attack him. He glared at the beast and then drew out his staff. He dodged it's attacks and whacked the heads hard enough to knock it down. The monster let out a defeating cry and fell to the ground.

The wind brushed against the boy's clothing. He then slowly walked to the soldiers who were scared stiff of what the boy had just done.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

The soldiers nodded. "Thank-Thank you."

"You should leave. The forest isn't safe at night."

The soldiers nodded at him and scrambled to their feet. They ran towards Brass castle leaving the boy with Hugo. The boy walked slowly to Hugo and felt his neck, then he took a look at the blood. His eyes narrowed at the poison. He's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a voice.

"Hurry, the fighting stopped." Beecham cried out. "Chief Hugo! Where are you!?" When the Kayaran fighters came over the hill, they saw the beast knocked out. Beecham slowly shifted his head around the area until he saw both Hugo and Fubar down on the ground with a boy looking down them. "You! Who are you and what have you done?"

The boy began to run away and disappeared before the men could catch him.

"Who was that." Beecham rubbed his head. "Hugo, are you alright? What happened?"

"I think its poison." One of the men said.

"Lets get them back to the village then." Beecham took Hugo into his arms and carried him. The other men put Fubar on their back and carried the creature back to the village.

When they arrived, they allowed a doctor to look at Hugo. Luce stayed by Hugo's side the whole time. The doctor frowned. "This poison, its not from here. I've never seen it before."

"You mean you can't help him?" Luce began to cry.

"Not until I can find the source." the doctor shook his head. "The monster that attacked him must of ate a foreign object. Or perhaps…"

Beecham's eyes narrowed when he began to think of what the doctor was thinking. "It could have been a trap."

"You think someone set this up?" Luca asked.

"Well, we have no proof. For now, we can only pray that Hugo will survive this poison long enough for me to find a cure."

Everyone sighed as Luce began to cry. Then one of the soldiers called from outside. "Excuse me sir." The soldiers had brought in the boy that was with Hugo when he was poisoned.

"You're that boy that was with Chief Hugo." Beecham snarled.

"Yes, apparently he came to us with these herbs." The soldier pointed to the boy's bag.

"Herbs?" Beecham look at them cautiously.

"These are the herbs that will make an antidote for him." the boy said quietly. "If he and the griffon do not take them soon, they will die."

Beecham continued to look at the boy with questioning eyes. "What do you think doctor."

The doctor looked into the boy's eyes and nodded. "I think we can trust him." The doctor was about to take the herbs, when the boy pulled them away from him.

"Let me do it. This antidote requires precise measurements. I was taught how to do it by a friend long ago."

Beecham folded his arms. "And who is this friend of yours?"

"Liukan."

"What? Liukan?" Beecham and everyone were in shock. Beecham held the boy by the shoulders. "The famous medicine man?"

"Yes. He died a long time ago though. I asked him to teach me how to make some medicine during the Gate rune wars."

Beecham shook his head. "Gate Rune Wars? Wait, just who are you?"

"My name is Tir Mcdohl." Tir lowered his hand on to Hugo's sweltering forehead. "Please, there much time."

Beecham nodded and allowed the boy to mix the herbs.

***

The next day, Hugo rose from his bed and stretched out his arms. Hugo looked around the room and saw Luce watching over him. "What happened?" Hugo asked when he looked at Luce.

Luce hugged Hugo so tightly he could barely breath. "Oh Hugo, I'm so glad the antidote worked." she cried.

"Oww, oww." Hugo clinched his teeth, and pushed Luce away. "I'm fine Luce. Just what happened?"

"You were careless." Beecham frowned as he walked in.

"Huh? So you were the one who saved me."

Beecham shrugged. "Not really. The real thanks goes to that boy."

Hugo titled his head and had a confused look. "What boy?"

"The one who made the antidote for you. He left a while ago." Beecham shrugged. "He said he had important business to attend to."

"What?" Hugo jumped out of the bed and went for the door. "What a rude punk. He should at least stay to let me thank him." Hugo went outside and jumped on the nearest horse he could find.

Beecham chased after him, yelling about his other duties. "Wait, what about the treaty?"

"I read it already." Hugo yelled. "Tell the Zexen council to write bigger."

"Hugo!!" Beecham yelled. It was too late, Hugo was out of reach, and anyone who knew Hugo knew that no one could catch up to him on horse. Fubar, decided to join Hugo and flew off in the same direction. "Not you too!" Beecham yelled at Fubar. Fubar cried through the air and happily flew to catch up to Hugo.

They ran through the plains, until they could see someone walking through the grasslands. Hugo grinned knowing it was probably the boy who saved him. Hugo wanted to know the boy's name and to thank him. Hugo wasn't the type to like having someone save him and merely walk away without telling him their name.

"Hey, stop! Wait!!" Hugo cried out to the boy. The boy stopped in his tracks and turned his head slightly. Not enough for Hugo to see his face though. Hugo got off his horse and walked towards the other boy. Fubar gently landed next to the horse and watched Hugo and the other boy. The boy was a few inches taller then Hugo and wore red Chinese clothing, The image of him reminded him of the flame champion. "You're the one who gave me the antidote right."

The other boy turned around and nodded. "Yes that was me."

Hugo gasped when he saw the other boy's face. "Wait. Red clothing, a green bandana, a long staff. Are you Tir Mcdohl."

Tir sighed and nodded. "I guess that man told you then."

Hugo shook his head. "Oh no. I heard stories about you that's all. I didn't even know who you were until now."

"I see. Well you're welcome for the antidote." Tir bowed and turned to the other direction. "I must be off now."

"Uh hey, where are you going?" Hugo asked touching Tir's shoulder.

"Somewhere quiet for now. There are some things on my mind and I wish to relax that's all." Tir responded.

"I see." Hugo looked at him curiously. "Why are you alone?"

Tir tightened his grip on his staff. "I just want to be by myself that's all."

"How about I guide you to whatever destination you want." Hugo happily suggested.

"Guide?" Tir's emotionless face had a thoughtful look, then he shook his head. "No I'll be fine on my own. You should go back to the village."

"I know, but to be honest, I sort of don't want to." Hugo said sadly as he looked back at the village.

"Why is that?"

"My mother was the chief of the village. Now that she's made me chief I can't do as much stuff as I want to." Hugo sighed.

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, like see the world and meet new people." Hugo smiled.

"You're like me then" Tir whispered.

"Huh?"

"You bare the Leader's burden." Tir looked up at the blue sky and let the wind gently breath against him.

"I guess we do." Hugo blushed. Hugo then got an idea and grinned. "Hey, so how about it. We'll go together."

"What about your village?"

"Oh yeah. I'll tell them I'm leaving and that Beecham and Luce will be in charge until I get back." Hugo mounted on to the horse once again and looked at Tir. "Can you wait for me."

"You're sure about this?" Tir asked cautiously.

Hugo nodded. "Yeah. I was waiting for a perfect time to leave Kayara anyway. So you want to find a quiet place huh? Maybe Alma Kinan would be to your liking, if the villagers will let us stay."

"Actually I was lying about that." Tir had a serious look in his eyes now. Hugo looked at them with anticipation of what he was going to say. "I want to steal the wind rune from Zexen."

"The wind rune? Zexen has it?" Hugo snarled.

"Yes, they took it from Luc's body." Tir looked at the ground. "Luc was an old friend of mine. Therefore, the least I can do for him, is give the rune to some worthy. I won't let the Zexen council hand it over to Harmonia. I promised someone that."

"I see." Hugo's eyes narrowed. "We should go back to Kayara and think of a plan instead then. To break into that place will take some time and skill."

Tir smirked. "Then you'll help right."

"Yeah, we're friends now." Hugo offered his hand to Tir and to help him on to the horse. When their right hands touched each other, their hands began to glow.

Tir blinked and looked at Hugo's right hand. "You possess the True Fire Rune."

Hugo nodded, "What rune do you have. It feels very strong."

"The rune of Life and Death, also known as Soul eater."

"Soul eater huh?" Hugo pulled Tir up to sit behind him. "Looks like we have two things in common."

"I guess we do." Tir smiled as he held on to Hugo as they rode back to Kayara. When they arrived back at the village, they began discussing the plan to steal the wind rune.

***

On the fated day, Hugo and Tir snuck into Zexen by swimming in the lake and entering by the docks. The night was calm and quiet with a few clouds in the sky. When they went into an alley Hugo dried their clothes by using his fire rune. They could hear the clanging sound of the knight's armor. They were in the Saint Loa knight's hideout waiting for the coast to be clear. Fubar quietly flew into the alley and made sure no one saw him. When everything was in place, they began the plan.

"Hugo, stay here until I come back." Tir whispered.

"I don't see why I can't go with you." Hugo frowned.

"It'll be safer if I went alone. I have Soul eater." Tir showed Hugo his rune on his right hand.

Hugo nodded and watched Tir leave quietly.

Tir quietly made his way to the parliament building. He kept looking from every corner, making sure there was no one there. There was a guard blocking the door to the building. Tir saw some soldiers patrolling the area. He waited until they left to knock the guard down. The guards were out of site and now was Tir's chance. He used a sleeping spell to make the guard sleep. Tir caught him in time before he fell. He then took the guard's keys and opened the door. He left the guard sleeping on the stairs so the soldiers would think he was sleeping on the job. Tir quietly opened the door to make sure no one was there. When he heard foot steps, he hid behind a large knight statue. It was only two council members. Tir could easily take them out, but something told him to listen to them.

"As soon as Harmonia makes our agreement, we can take out the grasslands for good and take over them."

"Yes, this will surely get us popular with the voters during the next election."

"If we have Harmonia on our side, then not even those stupid knights can stop us."

"Yes, I can't believe Chris is socializing with those barbarians. I knew she wouldn't make a good captain."

"Hmph, only a fool would send a woman to do a man's job."

"Well we should make preparations for the agreement."

The council members left and Tir came out of hiding. "_Good thing Hugo wasn't here. Otherwise those two would be dead._" Tir went into the council's meeting room. He began to search for the item. In the desk, under the table, on the self, nothing useful was there. Tir then noticed the round table's center. He shook the table a bit to see if the table would rattle. He was careful enough though for it not to be loud enough for anyone else to hear. Tir heard the rattle inside the center of the table. He climbed on top of it and used his staff to break through the desk. Once he got through the center, there was a box. He opened and saw a clear crystal ball with the true wind rune's symbol it. Tir smiled as he could feel Luc's presence in the rune. He then heard foot steps coming towards the meeting room.

Tir quickly locked the door before they could get in. He look around decided to blast through the roof. He used a flame scroll and burned the roof until there was a hole. The council members busted the door and charged in. They saw Tir holding the box with the wind rune, he smirked at them and used a grappling hook to go up to the roof. He moved so quickly the guards couldn't reach him in time. Tir jumped off the roof and ran towards the alley where Hugo was waiting.

"Stop right there." called out a soldier.

Tir turned around and used another wind scroll to cast sleep. The soldiers fell asleep in their tracks and dropped to the floor.

Tir continued to run until he met up with Hugo. He ran into the alley where Hugo was pacing around with anxiety. Hugo did a 180 degree turn and almost yelled at Tir.

"What happened, I thought you said you'd be careful."

"I was." Tir shrugged. "Anyway, lets get out of here. They'll come any minute."

Hugo nodded and jumped onto Fubar's back, then helped Tir on to Fubar. Fubar flapped his wings and flew off. The archers tried to shoot them down, fortunately Fubar was able to dodge the arrows. Fubar continued to carry the boys until they reached Brass castle. When they arrived at Brass castle, Tir asked Hugo for them to land. Hugo nodded and Fubar landed at the entrance of Brass castle.

"Fubar, we'll meet you on the other side okay?" Hugo said petting Fubar's head. Fubar nodded and took off. "Be careful, and be quiet." Hugo whispered.

"We should go." Tir reminded him.

"Yeah, this way." Hugo pointed out to Brass castle. They could hear the soldiers call out for them. The soldiers in Brass castle heard the call and were ready to take on the boys. Hugo was about to use his fire magic when Tir stopped him and used soul eater. Soul eater knocked all of them out at once.

"We have to be quiet about this. If you use your rune, it make wake the civilians and more soldiers would come." Tir looked at Hugo's hand and shook his head. "Just use your knife for now."

Hugo smirked. "That's my born specialty."

They continued to run towards the castle until Hugo pulled them into the kitchen. "This way." Hugo gestured towards the fire place.

Tir could hear the soldiers coming closer. He shook his head and followed Hugo into the fire place. When Tir jumped down, something trigger the trap door and he landed right on top of Hugo. Tir look sat up and looked down to see what he landed on. Hugo merely growned.

"Oh sorry." Tir laughed nervously as he helped Hugo up.

Hugo snorted and then pointed ahead. "That way."

They boys ran through the sewers beating every monster that came across them.

"We're almost there." Hugo pointed out. As they were getting closer to the exit, a dark figure jumped out right in front of them.

"Where do you think you're going!" the voice snarled.

Tir and Hugo drew out their weapons ready to take the enemy down when the door suddenly opened.

The tall dark haired man looked around and gasped at the sight of Tir's image. "H-Hikaru?" the man squinted.

"Geddoe! Chris?" Hugo said in exclaim.

"You know them?" Tir asked.

"Yes, we fought together in the Elemental wars." Hugo said looking back at Tir, who was still holding his staff in a fighting position.

"So they're allies?" Tir asked.

"Hugo. What are you doing?" Chris snarled. "Why are you stealing the wind rune."

"It wasn't Zexen's to begin with." Hugo barked.

"It's the property of Harmonia now." Geddoe frowned. "What do you want with it.

"Hugo we're running out of time." Tir held out his right hand. "Soul eater!!"

The rune began to glow and sucked everyone's strength. Tir nearly collapsed from the amount of energy he had to use.

"Tir! What have you done." he asked as he kneeled near Chris.

"Forgive me, but we don't have time for this." He said staggering for the door. Geddoe's party was also effect by the rune and they were knocked out as well. "If you want to stay then go ahead, but I need to go on. Forgive me."

Hugo then took Tir's arm and wrapped it around his neck. "I helped you get this far so I can't turn back either."

Tir smiled slightly at him. "Thanks. Lets get out of here quickly. We still need to go through the rest of the plan."

Hugo and Tir disappeared into the woods where they found Fubar waiting for them. Fubar cooed at them and let them ride on him as they crossed through the plains. They flew off into the night and disappeared from Zexen.

Geddoe pushed himself up slowly. The soul eater took a lot of his strength, so it was harder for him to move. Geddoe looked outside and his eye glared at the direction the boys left. "Tir…Mcdohl?" he whispered.


	4. Stolen rune

Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

Request: Beta reader please…If anyone is interested please e-mail me. I know this is a bit selfish, but I don't want to do this alone. As some of you can tell my grammar isn't good and neither is my story structure, despite I'm a native English speaker. I'm more of a script writer, and I wish this story to look like a novel style. Thank-you.

A leaders burden

The morning sun stretched its arms over the grasslands and Zexen. The birds fluttered around and sung in sweet harmony. As the people began their daily morning routines, the knights took in the morning sun and sighed. Percival and Leo were outside taking in the morning freshness of summer. They took a walk along Brass castle until they stopped by the place where they found Chris and Geddoe's crew members.

Percival shook his head. "How could anyone do that to Milady?"

Leo pounded his first together. "When we find the guy, he'll wish he never laid eyes on lady Chris."

Percival nodded. "We'll get him. No one does that to our captain and walks away free."

"I hope the search party Salome organized will find those bastards."

Percival put a thoughtful finger on his chin. "Rumor has it, Hugo was the one who did this."

"Hugo?" Leo couldn't believe it, why would Hugo do something like this? "Chris didn't have any burn marks on her, and he couldn't have taken Geddoe and Chris at once. Even with the True Wind Rune."

"Well some of the guards saw a giant Griffon, who else could of pulled that off."

"I guess you're right. Damn, what could of made Hugo succumb to this. This isn't like him. Is it?"

Percival shrugged. "He probably had his reasons, as does everyone."

"Well, lets go back to check on Chris." Leo suggest, leaving the entrance.

"Yes, Borus and Louis haven't slept since Chris was asleep. We should try to cheer them up."

"I just hope you're not talking about your lame jokes." Leo frowned.

Percival smiled. "I guess it can't be helped."

Chris, blinked as the morning sunlight shifted on to her face. Moaning, she pushed herself to sit up. Opening her eyes wearily and she looked around her room. She remembered vaguely what had happened last night. She could only remember Hugo was there, and the other boy she couldn't make out since it was dark. The name that Hugo spoke of sounded familiar. A name she heard of before, but couldn't remember where.

"Lady Chris." called out a boy.

Chris turned her head to see Louis bring in some wet towels and water. "Louis, those…"

"Oh, these…" Louis began to blush, as he set it next to the table near Chris' bed. "I'm so glad you're alright. I was, I was so worried you wouldn't wake up."

Chris looked over herself and found it odd that there were no wounds what so ever. "Louis, was I injured when you found me?"

"No. But you weren't moving so we feared for the worst. The doctor said that your strength was drained, so you weren't able to move. Geddoe and his crew suffered from the same thing."

Chris' eyes widen. "Geddoe?"

"Yes, we found both of you unconscious in the sewers."

"I remember now." Chris nodded. "Yes, Geddoe was at the door when it happen. Hugo was there as well."

"So it was him then." Louis said under his breath.

"What?"

Louis shook his head. "There was a rumor that it was Hugo did this. I guess its true then."

"I'm not sure about that." Chris looked out the window. "There was another boy. I think I have seen him somewhere before."

"Another boy?"

"Yes." Chris got out of her bed and made her way to the window. "He looked familiar. His eyes, they also reminded me of someone."

"Who?" Louis asked titling his head. A part of him hoped she was referring to him, yet he knew that she probably meant someone else.

"Thomas I think. Yes, him." Chris nodded.

Louis' mouth dropped. That scrawny weak guy? How on earth could Chris think about him. Louis calmed himself, by remembering that they did fight together 3 years ago. So perhaps she is just remembering that time.

"I didn't get a good look at him though, it was too dark for me to see." Chris sighed.

"Lady Chris." called another voice. Borus and the other knights entered Chris' room one by one.

"We're glad to see you're alright Lady Chris." Roland smiled.

Chris shook her head. "I'm fine. Where is Geddoe and his crew members?"

"They woke up a few minutes ago." Salome said.

"I see. So is there any news on the Wind rune?"

"No Milady." Salome closed his eyes and shook his head. "It appears they didn't go back to Kayara either. We searched the whole village, and none of the villagers would talk."

"You mean they know where they are?"

"Possibly. We can't force the information from them thought since that would result in another war."

"But they stole the wind rune from us." Louis frowned. "Its their fault to begin with."

Salome shook his head again. "The rune wasn't originally Zexen's anyway, but I guess the dead can't claim their possessions."

Chris remembered what Hugo said to her. The rune didn't belong to Zexen. "Salome, tell the council I'll be in charge of the search party."

"Are you sure Milady?" Percival asked.

"You just recovered so you should take it easy." Borus pointed out.

Chris shook her head. "I'll be fine. I want to know why Hugo stole the wind rune in the first place. There must be a reason."

Borus walked up to Chris and said "If you're going, then I'm going with you."

"So will the rest of us, right." Percival said as he looked around at the others.

Everyone nodded in agreement and then their attention went to Salome. "I'll notify the council members then. Why don't the rest of you go on ahead with out me."

"Alright." Chris nodded at him. "Please be quick then. We'll start looking through the grasslands."

Chris got on her armor and took her bag of potions and healing herbs. When she went downstairs, she saw Geddoe and his crew waiting for her. Chris blinked at the older man.

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked.

Queen smirked while flicking her hair back. "We were assigned to retrieve the True Wind Rune, so we're going to join you on your hunt."

"Yeah, our reputation depends on this job." Ace shrugged. "So we want to team up with you."

"Thank-you, but this is Zexen problem. So please, let us do our job." Chris frowned.

"Mcdohl Mcdohl." Geddoe said roughly.

"What did you say?" Chris asked looking at Geddoe.

"Mcdohl Mcdohl." Geddoe said again in the same voice tone. "That play stupid Nadir made us do. One of the characters was named Mcdohl Mcdohl."

Chris shook her head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"That boy, his name. It was Tir Mcdohl." the frown on Geddoe's face grew longer.

"Tir." Chris thought for a moment and then remembered Hugo calling the other boy that name. Then she finally knew who Tir Mcdohl was. "Tir Mcdohl. The leader of the Liberation army in the Gate Rune wars."

Geddoe didn't say anything, and merely nodded.

"So what does this all mean?" Chris looked at Geddoe, but when he gave her no response, she looked at his crew members.

"Beats me." Ace shrugged.

"Well lets work together for the time being." Chris nodded. "We can exchange information to where they might of gone."

"Alright lets go then." Ace said as they began to leave Brass castle.

"I'll catch up with you when my men assemble."

"Fine, we'll see you later then." Ace waved as they left.

Chris took a deep sigh as she watched them leave, her face slowly change into a worried expression. "I don't understand any of this. What could it mean?"

***

Hugo stretched out his arms in the morning sun. The open fields were as golden as the sun. Hugo knew that it would be too dangerous for them to go back to Kayara, so he set up camp in the grasslands. They were near the hideaway between the Lizard caves and the duck village. As Hugo looked at the clear blue sky he started to think about last night. He couldn't believe what he and Tir had done. Hugo still didn't understand Tir's intentions other then he was going to give the rune to someone worthy of it. Someone that the rune would choose itself. Hugo wished Tir would trust him enough to tell him who that person was. Tir didn't even tell him why he was alone.

Fubar nuzzled its beak against Hugo's back playfully and cooed as Hugo petted him gently.

"I don't understand Fubar. Why does Tir try to be so distant. We both bare true runes right?"

Fubar continued to coo as Hugo petted him.

"Well I guess I shouldn't be nosey anyway. I wonder if Tir is awake yet."

Tir was still in the tent sleeping. He used too much energy the other night. Tir opened his eyes to the morning's sunlight.

"Good morning." Hugo smiled as he entered the tent. "Are you hungry? I got two bunnies."

"Oh, thank-you." Tir said sleepily. He took the piece of meat Hugo gave him and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Hey, don't eat so fast. Otherwise you'll chock."

"I'm fine." Tir said wiping his mouth with his fist, and got up to his feet. "We should keep moving."

Hugo became frustrated and stood right in front of Tir, so he wouldn't be able to walk any further. "Look I don't know what's going on, but I do know that you need to take it easy. If you push yourself too much you'll collapse."

Tir looked over his shoulder and sighed. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry."

Hugo sighed in relief. "Tir please take it easy. You can't keep pushing yourself like this."

"I know. Thank-you." Tir said shyly.

"Its alright." Hugo nodded. "We'll leave as soon as you're done eating."

Tir nodded and continued to eat the bunny.

"So who is this person you're seeking anyway?" Hugo asked.

Tir gulped the meat down with some water from a canteen. "I can't say." Tir shrugged.

"Hey, come on!" Hugo said with a worried look. "We're partners now, so can't you at least give me a hint."

Tir looked at Hugo, who was anxiously waiting for his answer. "I can't."

"Man, at least tell me what I'm risking my neck for."

"I'm sorry." Tir stopped eating and looked down to the ground. "I made a promise to someone."

Hugo took a deep sigh. "Alright. I understand, it must be something important."

Tir shyly looked at Hugo. "Sorry about all this."

"It's no problem." Hugo smiled. "I want to help you. Your eyes seem to have a hard look of determination."

Tir smiled at the remark. "A lot of people say that."

"I guess it's because you are a great leader."

Tir finished off the bunny and stood up. "Okay I'm ready. Lets go then."

"Right." Hugo nodded.

While the boys continued their journey to find the one worthy of possessing the True Wind Rune, Chris and Geddoe were getting ready to leave. Geddoe and his crew were offered to have horses, but they preferred to walk. They met at the entrance between the grassland and Zexen, as the knights rode up to them, Chris looked down at Geddoe.

"We'll search the eastern area of the grasslands."

"Fine, we'll search west then." Geddoe turned towards the exit and started to leave with his crew.

Chris sighed, and took a deep breath. "Lets go as well."

Her loyal knights all nodded at her and followed Chris to the eastern part of the grasslands. They rode eastward and started with the duck village. It has been 3 years since they had been there. There was more trade then before and the villagers seemed busy. The knights asked the villagers if they had seen Hugo and another young boy. Most of the villagers shook their heads until they went to the item shop where the duck claims that Hugo and another boy was in his store.

"When did you see them?" Chris asked.

"A month ago. They bought some items here."

"What did they buy?"

"A rope with a grappler, and some sleep scrolls."

"Did you know what they wanted with them?"

"No. I just assumed they were going to Mt.Senai for a mountain climb."  
"I see. Thank-you then." Chris exited the item shop with a pondering look. No one had seen them coming this way yesterday. Someone must of noticed Fubar walking around. They couldn't have gone all the way to Alam Kinan, or Chisha. They would have to go through the grasslands all night. It seems that they were planning this for quiet some time. So its possible if they went to further in the grasslands.

"Lady Chris." Chris' thoughts were interrupted when Louis called her. "Lady Chris, Geddoe and his men found some clues."

"What clues?"

"Some of the Lizards saw Hugo and Tir Mcdohl heading westward of the grasslands."

"Westward?"

"Yes, Milady. Geddoe and his men are currently looking towards the situation. Should we join them?"

"Yes. Get the horses ready, I'll rally up the men."

Louis nodded and started to get the horses ready while Chris went looking for her knights.

Meanwhile, Geddoe and his crew were walking towards the westward side of the grasslands. They were all strong enough now to take down any monster that dared challenge them. Each of them were able to hit the enemy 3 times before it could make a move. Jacques and Aila also learned a new combo attack together. They called the new attack Heaven's rain. They would fire multiple arrows in the air and the arrows would rain down on the enemy. After hours of walking, Ace proposed that they rest for a bit.

"Hey guys, how about we rest for a bit. The old man looks tired." Ace said looking at Joker.

Joker turned red at the comment and snapped at him. "What? You're the one who's tired. Stop trying to blame others."

"What? I just thought you looked tired that's all. I was trying to be considerate."

"Considerate my ass. You're just making up excuses as usual."

"Hey knock it off you two." Queen frown. "How much more can you bicker."

"Actually, I could use a breather." Aila sighed. "We've been walking around looking for those thieves for over an hour. I could use soda."

Geddoe shrugged. "Fine, we'll rest for a bit. We'll continue on afterwards."

"Sounds good to me." Ace grinned, then looked at everyone. "So who brought the food?"

Everyone looked at each other. "Food?"

Queen put a hand on her hip and smirked looking at Ace. "I thought it was your job to bring the food."

"Me? I do all the finical stuff. Why would it be my reasonability?"

Jacques turned away from the group and started to walk away.

"Hey Jacques, where you going?" Ace asked.

"Since we have no food I'll hunt for some animals to eat."

"I'll come too." Aila smiled happily at Jacques. Jacques merely blushed to see her sweet smile. Aila titled her head at Jacques and asked, "Did I say some thing wrong?"

"Hey you two." Queen called. "Make sure what ever you get is big enough for all of us to share."

They both nodded at each other and the left the group to catch some meat. The others took a drink from the water they brought and rested a bit on the long soft grass. While the others were waiting for their lunch, Chris and her knights rode in. Geddoe turned his head at the sound of galloping horses, while the others got up.

"Lord Geddoe." Chris nodded. "We got your message. Did you find them?"

Geddoe closed his eye and frowned. "We were on our way, when we decided to stop for lunch."

"Lunch?" Borus snarled. "How can you eat at a time like this?"

Chris smiled and shrugged. "We'll take care of the rest then Lord Geddoe. Thank-you."

"Shouldn't you eat first?"

"When we find Hugo and Mcdohl then we'll eat." Chris frowned. As they were about to leave, Chris' stomach began to growl. Chris blushed from the sound as everyone stood there with their eyes wide open.

"You're welcome to join us."

The redness on Chris' face began to spread. "Fine. Once we eat, we'll continue on."

The Knights nodded and settled down beside Geddoe and his men.

Meanwhile, Tir and Hugo had done the same thing and stopped to get something to eat. They went to Mt.Hei-Tou to find some wild boars. The boars were easy to find since they would constantly challenge the boys into fighting them. They rested near the pond with fresh water and began to eat the boar.

"It's a beautiful day today isn't it?" Tir smiled.

"Yeah it is." Hugo smiled. "We're almost there. So we can relax a bit."

"I'm glad." Tir rotated his shoulders and let them crack to relieve some sore muscles.

"Uh, Tir."

"Hmm?"

"Luc was your friend right?"

Tir nodded. "He was." a low sigh came out and Tir turned his gaze towards the lake. "Luc wasn't a bad guy. He was rude at times, but I believe he had his reasons. We had some good times together and even though he wouldn't admit it, I think he was happy when everyone was together. I wish I was able to talk to him before he decided to do such a dangerous thing. I might have been able to stop him. We both have dreadful pasts."

"So what keeps you going?"

Tir looked at his hand and then smiled at Hugo. "I need to be strong to go throw the challenges ahead of me. Besides, I was given this rune by someone close to me. And I can't betray his trust by giving up easily."

Hugo smiled softly. "I know what you mean."

"Well we're done eating. We should be going."

"Yeah. Lets go."

Fubar cooed at them and walked closely behind.

The boys continued on their journey, while the search party drew closer to them. Geddoe and the others were finished lunch, so they continued their search for the boys. The knights were racing on their horses trying to find them. Alia tried to use the spirits to help them look for them, but they didn't respond. Alia frowned and shook her head.

"This is strange. Very strange. Why won't they talk to me about Tir."

"What does this mean?" Queen asked.

"It seems the spirits are siding with Hugo and Tir."

"Is that possible?" Joker asked.

"Well the spirits are living beings that can act on their own, but for them to actually side with someone is strange. What are the hiding?" Alia sighed.

Geddoe started to walk to the north-west direction.

"Boss. Where are you going?" Ace asked.

"Follow me." Geddoe started to run towards the direction and everyone followed him.

The knights noticed Geddoe going north-west and decided to follow him as well. Chris wondered what Geddoe sensed that she couldn't. Geddoe seemed to be sure of himself, and her instincts told her to follow him.

Tir and Hugo continued walking until Tir held Hugo's shoulder to stop him. Hugo looked behind and then back at Tir.

"What is it?" Hugo asked.

"Do you hear horses?" Tir asked placing a hand behind his ear.

"Horses?" Hugo questioned and then placed a hand behind his ear to listen better. Although the sound was faint, he could hear the hooves of the Zexen horses. He recognized the sound anywhere. It was the Zexen knights. "Its them!"

Tir looked around and then pulled Hugo. "We can hide near the rocks over there."  
Hugo looked at the direction Tir was pulling and his mouth dropped open. Tir was heading towards the rocks near the ocean. "You're kidding. If we go there they'll chase us until we fall off the edge of the cliff."

"We have no other choice." Tir said grabbing Hugo's arm and running towards the rocks.

Fubar followed them, they ran towards the large boulders and hid when the knights came into sight.

Chris scanned the area looking for anything unusual or out of place. Chris took out her sword waiting for the enemy to pop out from any direction.

"Where did they go?" Percival looked around the area. "Did they give us the slip."

"Wait." Chris said holding her hand up. "Those rocks."  
"They wouldn't be dumb enough to hide there." Leo frowned.

"There's no other place for them to go. We should look here just to make sure." Chris got off her horse and started walking towards the area.

Tir, Hugo and Fubar were behind a huge boulder. Tir shook his head. "Isn't she a friend of yours?"

"Well, sort of. We fought in a war together, but because of Zexen's treaty we began war again. So…"

Tir narrowed his eyes at Chris. "Great, and she's coming this way."

"Damn, we can't fight her."

"Why not?"

"If we did, then the other knights would come after us, we can't take all of them on by ourselves."

Tir looked at the rest of the knights and nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Alright, we'll avoid fighting." Tir then drew out his staff.

"I thought you said we weren't going to fight."

"We're not." Tir smirked. He then jammed his staff, wedging it in the bottom of the rock. We're using this as a distraction. We I give the signal, run alright."

Hugo took a hard gulp and nodded. They could both see the knights coming closer and closer towards them. Tir was waiting for the right moment.

"Just a little closer." Tir whispered.

Suddenly Fubar squalled.

"Fubar, Hush!" Hugo snapped, then he noticed why Fubar squalled. Geddoe and his crew were on the other side and already spotted them.

"There they are." Alia pointed.

"Tir!!" Hugo cried.

Tir looked back and gasped for a second before he pushed the boulder over to knock the knights over. The boulder trigger the other rocks to move and caused a rock slide.

"Look out!!" Leo called out. The knights retreated except for Chris. Who was determined to capture the boys.

Chris shifted left and right to dodge the moving rocks and made her way upwards.

Tir and Hugo looked back and forth.

"Crap. Now we have no choice but to fight." Hugo growled as he took out his knife.

Everyone else took out their weapons as well.

"Why?" Chris demanded. "Why did you steal the rune?"

"Hugo, hand over the rune. It belongs to Harmonia now. Do you want the entire Harmonia army after you." Ace frowned.

"Hugo, what could Lord Mcdohl possibly have told you that would make you steal the True Wind Rune."

Hugo shook his head. "This rune belonged to Luc. It wasn't meant to be Zexen's or Harmonia's toy. Even you have to agree to that."

"Even so." Chris frowned. "I can't let you steal that rune."

"The one that should be questioned isn't Hugo." Geddoe frowned. "Its Tir Mcdohl."

Tir said nothing and held his staff in a fighting position.

"I don't know what you're doing, but we need that rune back." Geddoe then held his sword in a fight position. "But if you won't hand it over, I'll take it from you."

"Hugo." Tir whispered.

"I know." Hugo nodded. "Fubar!"

Fubar then squall a siren. Everyone covered their ears from the loud sound. Hugo and Tir were about to escape when the floor began to shake.

"Fubar! Stop!!" Hugo yelled.

The rocks began to move and separate. The ground shifted and everyone began to fall into the earth. A scream escaped from their mouths as they all fell into the earth. They were swallowed into the ground and nothing could be seen afterwards.


	5. Purpose

Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

Request: Beta reader please…If anyone is interested please e-mail me. I know this is a bit selfish, but I don't want to do this alone. As some of you can tell my grammar isn't good and neither is my story structure, despite I'm a native English speaker. I'm more of a script writer, and I wish this story to look like a novel style. Thank-you.

A leaders burden

Borus scrambled to his feet, running towards the area where Chris and the others disappeared. "Chris!!" He constantly called out, and as a desperate attempt to save her, he began digging through the rocks. Bit by bit he moved the rocks and continued to call out for her. His voice echoed, yet there was no response. Tears began to stream down Borus' face.

"Chris…" he whispered. He knees dropped to the floor and he kneeled over crying. Out of frustration, he began to punch the ground. "Damn. How could we be so careless."

Louis placed a hand softly on Borus' shoulder. "She's alive. I just know it. We should look for her."

Borus nodded slowly as he got up to his feet.

Leo shook his head. "What should we do now?"

Percival looked towards Budehec castle. "We should go to Budehec castle and ask for assistance."

"Alright." Louis nodded. "I'll stay with Borus in the mean time and we'll remain here. We need to protect this place until Lady Chris returns."

"I'll stay here as well." Roland said folding his arms.

They all nodded and Leo and Percival went towards Budehec castle.

Deep within the cavern, Geddoe woke up to water dripping. He opened his eye to see that he was inside a cave. He looked around the area and found Hugo and Fubar lying down. Queen was also close by as well. She moaned as she pushed herself to sit up.

"What? Where are we?" Queen asked weakly. She looked around and the cave looked like an ancient ruin.

Hugo and Fubar began to wake up as well. "Oww, my head." Hugo said holding his forehead. When he saw Geddoe and Queen he jolted into a fighting position. "You guys? Where's Tir?"

Queen shook her head. "We just woke up."

Geddoe frowned as he felt the walls. "This is a Sindar ruin."

"Sindar?" Hugo said titling his head.

"Yeah. Come on lets find a way out here." Geddoe said walking towards the tunnel.

"Why don't you put that knife away." Queen smiled. "We'll fight some other time. We need to get out of here first."

Hugo looked at them and placed the knife back. His eyes gazed upon Fubar and they both nodded.

"Hugo," Geddoe called as he brought a large piece of wood.. "Could you light this."

"Sure." Hugo nodded. He used a small fire spell to light the torch.

"Alright, lets move on." Geddoe said going on.

Chris moaned from the pain of the fall. She was still half asleep. She began to remember her father. How he was never home. When ever he as home she'd jump for joy and showed him how good she was getting at swordsmanship. He'd smile and pet his daughter's head. Then she remembered when she found who her father really was. Chris was feeling a bit guilty for not getting to know him more. Then she might of known who he was when she saw him last. Then she saw an image of Yun. Yun smiled kindly at her like she always did. "You should trust him." Yun smiled. Chris was confused. Trust who. When she tried to reach Yun, she was awaken by a sharp pain.

"Ouch!" Chris woke up from the pain of her sore ankle.

"Hold still." Said a kind voice.

Chris pushed herself up with her elbows and saw Tir Mcdohl was warping a bandage around her foot. Chris blushed when she noticed that he took off some of her armor off. "What are you doing?" She snarled. She tried to grab her sword, but all she felt was the right side of her thigh. "What? Where's my sword?"

Mcdohl flicked his head towards the direction where he put her sword. It was standing against the wall of the cave.

"Why you!" Chris growled. "Don't touch me."

Mcdohl pinned her down. "If you move your ankle it'll only get worse."

"I can use my water rune to heal me."

"So you're a True rune user too huh."

"That is correct."

"Well you can try your water rune, but I would save your energy. Who knows when you might need to use your rune."

Chris frowned at him. "Well I can't stay here while my men worry themselves sick about me. I need to use it now." Chris used the water rune, a bluish glow came from her hand and her sore ankle was gone.

"Well, I guess you don't need any medications. Still we have to find a way out of here." Tir said starching his cheek "We fell pretty deep in to the cave. I think we're below the sea level. For now lets work together."

"I see your point. Just don't become too friendly with me."

"I beg your pardon."

"You stole the rune, so don't think I'll let you go."

"I have no intentions of fighting you, however I don't intend to lose the rune either." Tir shook his head. "To be honest, I was thinking of leaving you here, but you're Hugo's friend. He'll never forgive me if I left you. Since I wasn't sure if there were any monsters around, I brought you here and started a fire. This area seems safe enough to stay in."

Chris looked at the burning fire that was in front her. "I see."

"Here." Tir went burrowing in his bag and found some healing herbs. "This will help get your strength back."

"Thank-you."

Tir looked around the cave. "I looks like some other rocks have fallen to make another ceiling. I'm going to see if there any editable animals here. There's some water next to you if you're thirsty." Tir then looked at Chris' sword and then back at Chris. He took the sword and tossed it to her. "You better take this for protection, incase a wild animal comes here. Would you mind staying here, I don't have anymore fire scrolls, so it would good idea to keep that fire going."

"Uh yes. I guess you're right."

Chris said nothing and continued to look at the fire as Tir left the cave. "Everyone, must be worried about me." she sighed.

Meanwhile, Ace and the others began to wake up from the fall. Joker shook his head and look around the area. He brushed off the little pebbles on his clothing, wiping himself clean.

"Is everyone okay?"

Aila was on top of Jacques who was still holding her in his arms. "Jacques are you okay?"

"I'm fine. How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright thanks to you." Aila helped Jacques up and then she looked around. "Ace!"

Ace was lying on the ground with a painful expression. He wasn't moving.

"Ace wake up!" Aila called out. She shook him, but when he didn't respond she slapped him across the face. "Wake up!" She continued to slap.

"Ouch! It wasn't me." He yelped in a cry. Ace opened his eyes to see Alia with her hands on his shoulder and with a worried look. "Oh its just you guys."

Aila pouted. "I was worried you were dead."

"I'm fine Aila. Sorry to worry you." Ace said while starching the back of his head. "Where are we?"

Joker shook his head. "I don't know. Looks like an ancient ruin."

"A ruin?" Ace rubbed his sore head and looked around the room. He then noticed Geddoe and Queen weren't there. "Hey, where's boss?"

"We probably fell in different places." Jacques said while looking at the covered hole above. "We have to get out of here. If we stay, we might suffocate."

"Well, I guess we're on our own for now." Ace shrugged. "The others couldn't have fallen that much farther from us."

They all nodded in unison and began their search for a way out of the cavern, and for the others.

While the 4 heroes were stuck in the caves, Percival and Leo were riding their mighty steeds to Budehec castle. Thomas the owner of the castle was busying himself with the many paper works of the new stores. Property taxes, health insurance, water bills, food bills, the paper work was almost none stop. Thomas couldn't be happier. Even though running the castle was hard work, he still had time to walk around the castle and chat with his friends. It filled his heart since he knew that everyone was doing their best to keeping the castle busy as well.

"Thomas." called a young girl's voice. Cecil walked into the room with Percival and Leo. "This is terrible." She pouted.

Thomas put his pen down on the desk and had a worried expression. "What's wrong?"

"Its Chris." Percival walked towards Thomas with a hard look. "We need some of your men to help us look for her on the western shore."

"Western shore?" Thomas gasped. "Did she fall?"

"Yes. While we were chasing the rune thieves, Lady Chris and Lord Geddoe were both caught when the floor collapsed and they disappeared."

"Geddoe was there too? Who were the thieves."

"Lord Hugo, and Lord Mcdohl."

"Hugo? Why would he…" Thomas' face suddenly turned into a shock. "Tir Mcdohl of the Liberation army from the Gate Wars? I read about him from Eike's library."

"We don't know Lord Mcdohl's intentions for the rune, though we do need the rune back."

"I see."

"Please Lord Thomas we need your help."

"Alright. Cecil you know what to do."

Cecil nodded at Thomas and left the room to rally up the men of Budehuc castle.

"Thank-you Lord Thomas." Percival and Leo bowed.

"Think nothing of it. It's the least we can do." Thomas smiled.

"Well then, if you would excuse us then." Leo nodded and then left the room with Percival behind.

Thomas sighed deeply and looked at the window. "I hope everyone is okay."

***

Geddoe walked around the cave and felt like they were going circles. They couldn't figure out where they were. Geddoe frowned as the torch began to slowly wear down to a nub. He shock his head and looked back at everyone.

"We should rest here for now."

"Is it safe?" Hugo asked.

"There's really no where else we can go." Queen pointed out.

"I'm a bit hungry." Hugo said shyly while holding his stomach.

"Same here." Queen smiled.

Geddoe shrugged and continued walking a bit further. "We can use some of the monsters here as meat for now."

"Okay, how about me and Fubar and go hunt for dinner and bring some fire wood."

"Sounds good to me." Queen flicked her hair and then looked at the ground. "We'll make camp for now. Be careful though."

"I know." Hugo nodded. Hugo left the two adults, while he and Fubar got dinner. Hugo then felt a small pain in his heart. He couldn't stop but wonder if Tir was alright. Even though Tir wouldn't open up to him, he was still a friend. Hugo sighed and could only hope that Tir was alright.

When Hugo was out of sight, Queen let out a worried sigh. "He's not a bad kid."

"He's similar to Hikaru." Geddoe folded his arms and sat on the floor.

"Are we really going to arrest them after this?"

"Its too late. I accepted Sasarai's money already. So we'll have to do what we were assigned to do."

"I know. So we're going to use Hugo as bait to lure Lord Mcdohl out."

"That's the plan for now."

Ace, Joker, Aila and Jacques soon became tired after walking and randomly battling monsters. They called out for each other but there was never a response. Just a monster lurking from the corner eager to get some fresh meat. Finally they began to collapse.

"This is endless." Ace panted. "My feet are aching too."

"Well we can't stay out in the open for the monsters to get us." Joker pointed out.

"We should make camp for now." Jacques proposed. "Lets find an isolated area where the monsters won't look for us. We can begin our search for Geddoe after we rest."

"Good idea Jacques." Ace grinned. "I guess a bit of me is rubbing off on you."

Aila gasped. "What? I hope not."

Joker laughed and Jacques blushed while Ace turned red.

"I guess you like him the way he is. Lets go then." Ace said happily.

They went on and found a large area where there were no monsters in sight. They took the opportunity and made camp there. Like before, Aila and Jacques went to search for food while Joker and Ace began making a fire.

Meanwhile, Chris was resting. She was tired and now she was hungry from. It seemed like a long time since she last ate, how long have they been down in the cave anyway? She thought about how Tir tried to treated her ankle, and how he was kind to her even when he didn't have to. Although, men treating her nicely wasn't a rare occasion. However, the look in Tir's eyes were of true kindness. Yet, his eyes are full of sadness of well. Loneliness perhaps. He seemed to have a great burden on his shoulder. Perhaps like her.

Chris closed her eyes and let her mind drift. "Everyone is probably worried about me. I hope they're doing okay." She thought about Tir once more and laughed. "Rescued by a man. How embarrassing. This is stupid of me."

Thump.

Chris opened her eyes and pushed herself into a fighting position holding her sword in front of her.

Thump, thump, thump.

The noise began to come closer. Chris tightened her grip around the sword and made her way to a corner near the opening. The noise was coming closer, she waited in her hiding spot until she had a full view of the creature.

THUMP. A dark head peeped out of the corner.

Chris gritted her teeth, ready to fight.

The monster saw Chris and showed its full body to her. It was a large primal monster. Its fists were half the size of Chris. Its saber tooth teeth stuck out and the monster's eyes glowed bright yellow in the dark. The monster roared and swung its fist at Chris. Chris used her sword to take some of the blow. She jumped to avoid its other fist, and jumped again to avoid the next attack. The monster looked hungrily at her. She glared at him and held out sword once more. The monster grinned and then raised its fist to pound her. Chris swung her sword back to accelerate more power to hit the monster, using her Phoenix rune, she stabbed the monster multiple times. The monster didn't die, but became angry, Chris in the meantime became unbalanced and was panting. She wasn't able to attack again right away. This was one of the flaws of the Phoenix rune. The monster was about to hit her when someone spoke the words. "Soul eater! Deadly fingertips!" A black shadow circled around the monster and began to eat away the monster in a matter of seconds. The monster screamed in terror that echoed through out the cave. The scream died and the monster disappeared.

Chris couldn't say anything. She never seen a rune that could instantly kill a monster like that before.

Tir slowly turned around. "Are you alright?"

"I-I think so…" Chris rubbed her forehead and then shook her head.

Tir looked at her left hand. "That rune, it's looks similar to the falcon rune."

"Falcon rune? I never heard of it."

"I see. I'll get the animals I caught." Tir went back to get the animals while Chris went back to the fire place. When he got back, Tir brought out some strange looking animals. Chris' eyes widen when she saw the animals they were suppose to eat. "I'm pretty sure that this is editable. I checked to see if there was any harmful fluids in them. We should wait for it to cook." Tir used a stick and stuck it up the animal's rear until a piece of the stick stuck out of the animal's mouth.

Chris' mouth dropped open, and she quickly closed it with her hand. She thought she was going to be sick.

Tir titled his head and looked at her strangely. "Are you alright?"

"How-How can you do that. And eating such a strange animal."

Tir shook his head. "It was the only one I could find. If you don't want to eat it that's fine, but you need your strength for tomorrow right?"

Chris was silent for a bit, and grabbed a stick with a disgusted look and stabbed it in the rear like Tir did and let it cook in the fire. Chris shyly looked at Tir, who was looking at the entrance to the cave. He was probably waiting for another monster to come out. Chris noticed that, like Geddoe, Tir's facial expression hasn't changed since she saw him.

"Uhm Lord Mcdohl."

"Hmm?" Tir turned his towards her. "Something wrong?"

"Uh no." Chris shook her head. "Its just that…your face always looks so sad. Why is that?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm sorry, its probably none of my business."

"Hugo asked me the same thing."

"Hugo?"

"Its probably the way I look that everyone wonders."

"No, I was just curious that's all. Is it because of your rune?"

"Soul eater?" Tir said looking at his right hand. "A bit, but I have grown attached to it. Besides, I have a responsibility to bear since I have this. That's why I can't get close to anyone."

"Close to anyone."

"There was a girl from the Republic of Toran. She had a crush on me, but I didn't pay much attention to her. There was so many things on my mind back then." Tir brushed his hair away from his eyes and then held his right hand in front of him. "I couldn't let my rune devour her soul, or anyone else that was dear to me. So I left Toran. My servant Gremio accompanied me during my travels. But he eventually died and his soul was taken in by the rune. There are many souls in here. That's why I can't get too close to anyone. Hugo has been nice enough to accompany me here, but soon I have to say goodbye to him too."

"Lord Mcdohl…"

"You don't need to feel sorry for me. The last rune bearer survived 300 years of loneliness." Tir turned his gaze up Chris' beautiful blue eyes. " I envy you."

"Why?"

"Even though you bear a true rune, you have more freedom then I do. That's why you have so many people looking up to you. You can have your close ones by you."

"You can do that too."

Tir shook his head. "If I did Soul eater would eat their souls once they died. Soul eater's powers grow depending on how close the person is to the bearer. The closer the person is to the bearer, the stronger it becomes." Tir looked at Chris who still had a face of pity on her. He attention was then by the well-cooked animal he left on the stick. "The meat is done."

"Oh yes." Chris looked at the strange animal and wasn't sure if she should eat it. She looked at Tir and waited to see if he chocked on the food.

Tir gulped the food down and looked at Chris again. "Its fine. You should go ahead and eat." Tir smiled.

This caught Chris off guard since she never saw him smile before, he was so much like Geddoe, she was sure he would never smile at her.

"What?"

"You smiled."

"So?"

"I didn't think I'd ever see you smile that's all."

Tir chuckled. "I see. I try to stay positive despite my situation." Chris was still looking at him strangely "Are you worried about the food. Its not too bad. Sort of tastes like chicken." Tir grinned.

"Really?" Chris took a tiny bite and then gagged. Tir burst out laughing. "That was a mean trick." she snarled.

"Well, its not so bad, except for the after taste. You should really eat it though. Otherwise, you'll be a lot more hungry in the morning."

Chris frowned and relentlessly took the animal and started to bite it again. She cringed at the bitter taste, but lived with it. After they ate, Chris decided to question Tir about the Wind rune.

"Lord Mcdohl?"

"You can call me Tir."

"Tir. Sorry."

"We didn't really introduce ourselves, but I know who you are. You are Chris Lightfellow. Hugo told me about you."

"I see."

"What did want to talk about?"

"Why did you steal the Wind rune. You don't seem to be a bad guy."

Tir giggled. "Is that how you see all your enemies."

Chris blushed. "No. Its just that the last one who tried to steal all the runes was…"

"He wasn't a bad guy either. He wanted people to be free from their destiny. No one should bear these runes." Tir said looking at his right hand.

"So why do you want the Wind rune?"

"It's a secret." Tir smiled.

"A secret?"

"Yup. A secret. So I can't tell you."

"I see."

"Get some rest. I'll keep watch."

"What? You're staying up all night."

"We have no choice. If another monster comes back, I can take care of it." Tir's facial expression turned back to its serious hard look. He turned away from her so she couldn't see his eyes.

"But…"

"Don't worry. I'll protect you for now. Once I spot someone from your team, we'll go our separate ways. Now please, sleep."

"I don't need any protection from anyone!" Chris snarled.

Tir looked back at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense."

"I'm a Zexen knight, so I can take care of myself."

"I know. We can still help each other for now can we not?"

"Yes, I'll take the second watch then if you're taking the first."

"I'll wake you up when I'm tired then."

Chris sighed and laid her head on to the ground. She closed her and whispered "I want to see your smile again."

***

The morning sun had risen and the next day had already started. Louis, Borus and Roland stayed around the area all night, determined to protect Chris from further danger. Louis knew in his heart that she couldn't be dead. She wouldn't die that easily. Especially from a simple fall. She had to be alive. Soon they saw small torches coming closer. Percival and Leo had returned with men from Budehuc castle. Cecil was in front and she ran towards the area where the knights were.

"Lord Borus, Lord Roland!" Cecil yelled and huffed. "We came as soon as we could."

Leo waved his arm in the direction. "Alright men, start digging."

The men got out their shoves and spears to dig through the broken rocks.

"Do you think we'll find them." Cecil asked Leo.

"We should be able to dig deep enough to find the hole they fell through. Until then, we can only use this."

"Perhaps I can be of help." Said a soft familiar voice.

Everyone turned around to see Sasarai. The holy Bishop of Harmonia.

"Lord Sasarai! What are you doing here?" Cecil said with her mouth open.

"Our men are down there too. As well as the True Wind Rune. So we should do this quickly. Please stand aside." Everyone stepped back as Sasarai began to chant. "Earthquake." he said softly. The ground began to shake and collapsed underneath again.

Everyone underneath felt it. Chris woke up from the shake while Tir jumped to his feet and looked up. Geddoe, Queen, Hugo and Fubar woke up from the noise as well. They all looked at the shaking ceiling. Jacques covered Aila and Aila hugged Jacques back. Joker and Ace merely look up at the ceiling.

After the giant hole appeared, the ground stopped shaking. The dust began to clear up to reveal the ruin below them and the separate holes that Chris and the others could of gone through.

Sasarai smiled softly. "This is getting interesting."

The ceiling began to collapse where Geddoe and Hugo was. They ran out of the tunnel as quickly as they could. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they arrived at the ancient ruin. There were pillars, a large building in the center and a maze as a path to get through. Ace and the others also ended up in the same place. They ran out of the crumbing cave and ended up in the ruin. Tir grabbed Chris and dodged the cave in when the ceiling collapsed. The dust cleared up to reveal the ruin.

"Are you okay?" Tir asked Chris.

"Yes. What happened?"

Tir shook his head. "Don't know. Looks like we can't go anywhere but forward."

"Yes, lets hope there is an exit."

"Looks like we have to go through this Sindar ruin."

"Sindar? How can you tell?"

"I read about them in the Library in the Republic of Toran." Tir let out a laugh as he remembered the librarian was also named Hugo.

"So we should move forward right."

"Yeah. We might find your friends and Hugo." Tir ran towards the ruin with Chris following him.

***

While the chase continued, Hikusaak was chanting in the Bishop hall. The entire hall was white with a blue center and a rune symbol on the carpet. The place was usually used for meetings. Hikusaak was beginning to wonder where the other Bishops were, when he heard the foot steps of 2 people.

Hikusaak smirked. "You're late." He said as he turned around. "I knew you had gret powers, but I never expected your plan to go this well.

"We've come for your rune."

"Is that so? You know what this means. The largest war is beginning." Hikusaak laughed. "But now is not the time. Guards!" A long silence passed when no one came. "What? What did you two do."

"We left them for our partner." One of the men smiled.

"She should using her special technique."

"Damn you! Circle rune!"

A bright light started to shimmer, but the light quickly faded.

"Sovereign Rune." Said one of the men.

"The Sovereign, how…" Hikusaak gasped at the sight of the rune.

"We've collected 19 of the 27 true runes. We just need yours to make it 20."

"You can't…"

The Circle rune began to tear through his body as it was leaving him. He collapsed to floor from the pain of the rune leaving him. He looked up at the 2 men that took the rune. "How…" he said weakly. "I've spent my life trying to collect them all. How…"

The man shook his head. "The Sindar clan and many other people who know our burden. You too must know this curse these runes give us. It is time for us to end it."

"I won't let you get away with this…I won't let it end like this…" Hikusaak then collapsed to a deep sleep.

"Forgive us." Said one of the men as he petted the Hikusaak's head.

"Lets go."

The nodded at each other and left hall.


	6. Chase

Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

Request: Beta reader please…If anyone is interested please e-mail me. I know this is a bit selfish, but I don't want to do this alone. As some of you can tell my grammar isn't good and neither is my story structure, despite I'm a native English speaker. I'm more of a script writer, and I wish this story to look like a novel style. Thank-you.

A leaders burden

Chris and Tir continued to run through the ruin. They arrived at the Sindar ruin where a large guardian beast was waiting for them. A two headed hydra was their opponent. The head on the left was colored in red, the other had shades of blue. The creature looked at them and began to give out a warning roar.

"We should try to avoid fighting it." Tir took out his staff just incase the monster did attack them.

"How can we avoid it if we want to get to the other side."

"I don't know. I doubt a sleep spell will work on him."

Suddenly the monster turned to the left and gave out another warning roar.

"Why is it roaring in that direction." Chris asked.

"I don't think we're the only ones here."

"Whoa!" said a young familiar voice.

Chris and Tir took a peek inside the Sindar ruin to see the other entrance from the other side. Hugo, Geddoe, Queen and Fubar were on that side.

"Where did this thing come from." Hugo growled as he took out his knife and went into a fighting position.

"I don't think we're alone either." Geddoe grumbled.

They turned their head to see Chris and Tir on the other side.

"Tir! Are you two alright?" Hugo called out.

"We're alright!" Chris answered.

"If we can confuse the hydra we can defeat it without using our magic."

Geddoe nodded. "If it tries to attack us at the same time then it'll get confused on where to aim."

"Alright lets go." Hugo jumped on to Fubar and they both flew towards the monster. Fubar clawed it with his strong claws, while Hugo slashed it with his knife.

Chris started to chant and then preformed Phoenix. She charged towards the Hydra and did multiple stabs on its side.

The monster turned around to hit Chris, but Geddoe attacked it making it turn back their side. Tir used a double-beat rune and was able to strike it twice before it could counter. The monster roar and spat out Ice breath at Geddoe's party. They took the hit, but Tir and Chris did a combo. They both hit the monster at the same time with multi hits. Since, they both did equal amount of damage, Chris didn't become unbalance like she usually did with Phoenix. The Hydra monster turned back to them once more, but before it could, Queen preformed the last attack and poisoned the monster with her rune. The monster moaned and collapsed on the floor, when it fell to the floor and started to disappear.

Chris looked up at the others. "I'm glad that you're alright."

"We're fine." Hugo said getting off Fubar. "I didn't really expect to see you two together though." Hugo smiled at Tir and a blushing Chris.

"Do be quiet." Chris snapped while blushing.

"The important thing is everyone is alright." Tir said shaking his head. "I didn't mean for this to get this far."

"Queen…" Geddoe whispered.

Queen nodded and grabbed Hugo from behind.

"Queen! What are you doing?" Hugo struggled to get out of her grip, but Queen twisted his arm and held her sword against his neck.

"Don't move." she whispered. "Otherwise I'll really kill you."

"What the hell you doing?" Hugo demanded and struggled. "Let go."

"Geddoe!" Chris cried. "You can't be."

Fubar was about to pounce on Queen, but Queen gave Fubar a look that she would kill him if he dared make a move on her.

Tir stood there looking straight at Geddoe's one eye. The two stood there like statues, never leaving one's glare. They continued to stare into each other until Geddoe made his move.

"What do you plan to do with the True Wind Rune."

Tir gave him an emotionless stare and then glanced at Hugo. "If I tell you, you'll let him go?"

Geddoe looked at Hugo and then back at Tir shaking his head. "He's just insurance for now. Tell me. Why did you steal the True Wind Rune. If you have a reason, then say it."

"Geddoe! Stop it!" Chris said growling at him. "This is wrong. You can't use hostages."

"We're mercenaries, not knights."

Chris gritted her teeth for even thinking of such a man as a friend.

Geddoe continued to stare at Tir's eyes who was merely standing there like an emotionless figure. "Fine, how about a duel." Tir said holding his staff in front of him. "If I win, you let us go. You win, I'll give you the rune and tell you my reasons."

"Tir don't do it!" Hugo yelled, while still trying struggle out of Queen's grip.

"Tir, you stayed up all night." Chris whispered to him. "You can't take him on. Geddoe is strong."

"Its alright." Tir said with a serious face. "I don't think he'll actually hurt Hugo."

"What makes you so sure."

"He reminds me of someone I met a long time ago."

Geddoe smirked and took out his sword. "You got guts kid. I accept."

"Please stand aside." Tir swirled his staff and positioned it behind him. Chris stood back as the two men got ready to fight.

The first part of the duel, Tir and Geddoe both kept blocking incase the other attacked first. Then Tir attacked Geddoe while was blocking. Geddoe then attacked Tir and Tir did wild attack on taking more health points (hp). Geddoe attacked again, but this time Tir blocked and let his staff take some of the hit. Tir tried wild attack again, but Geddoe blocked and countered. It was hard to tell what each of them would do since they never said anything before or after they attacked blocked. Geddoe seemed to be winning though. Then Geddoe decided to end this with another attack. Tir risked this and let himself take the hit, but did a Wild attack and knocked Geddoe to the floor.

Geddoe was kneeling on the floor and he looked up at Tir who was panting and equally tired. "I lost." a small smile crossed Geddoe's face which was a rare occasion. "I see you're determined to go through what you have planned all the way through then."

Tir smiled back and nodded. "You're a good match."

Queen let go of Hugo and Hugo jumped away from her, he then turned to Tir and smiled. Tir nodded and helped Geddoe to his feet. When Tir pulled him up, Geddoe looked at Tir in the eye. He saw the determination in Tir's eyes about completing his mission.

"What is it that you want to do?" Geddoe asked Tir once more.

Tir merely smiled kindly and said, "For you to trust me."

"Its hard to trust when you don't know what is at stake."

"I know. All I can tell you is that I want to break our curse."

"Curse?"

"What kind of curse would that be?" asked a soft voice. They all turned around and saw Sasarai with the Harmonia army and the Zexen knights behind him. Along with a few soldiers from Budehuc castle. "Geddoe I'm glad you found them. Now confiscate the wind rune." Sasarai smiled.

Hugo got in front of Tir as well as Fubar. "Tir! Get out of here!"

"What? I can't leave you two." Tir protested.

"You have no choice. We'll hold them off."

"Why are you protecting him." Sasarai growled.

"Because I believe in Tir. That's enough for me to protect him."

"You don't stand a chance." Sasarai shaking his head. "Just get out of the way and no harm will come to you."

"I won't let you." Geddoe frowned.

"What?" Sasarai said in shock.

Geddoe took out a small bag and tossed it in front of Sasarai. "Keep your money, since I'm protecting Lord Mcdohl, I can no longer accept it."

"Why…" Sasarai asked shaking his head.

"Everyone attack." Borus cried. The Zexen knights charged towards them.

"Lady Chris, get out of the way. We've come to rescue you." Louis shouted.

Chris shook her head. "Wait!"

Her knights didn't listen. They started to fight against Hugo and Geddoe.

"Tir, please go." Hugo shouted at him. "We can't be caught like this."

Tir gritted his teeth and nodded. He didn't want to leave them, but he felt that he had no choice. He ran into the ruin and yelled, "If you die there, I'll never forgive you."

Hugo nodded and smiled at him. "I don't plan on dying today. Geddoe, lets go."

Geddoe smiled and drew his sword in front of the men.

"I didn't think we would fight again like this." Leo frowned at Geddoe.

"We have our reasons."

Sasarai shook his head again. "Even though we fought together years ago, I won't hold back."

"That's fine." Geddoe frowned. "We won't either."

Borus attacked Hugo first. Hugo blocked the attack with his knife and jumped to counter him.

Louis in the meantime grabbed Chris' wrist and pulled her up on to his horse. "Are you alright Lady Chris. Did the thief hurt you?"

"No. I'm fine. Please stop this at once."

"Why? It is our job to arrest them for stealing the True Wind rune."

"I-I know. But…"

"I know they were our comrades from the last war, but we can't show them any mercy when they break any Zexen laws. Especially one this large."

"I know. We are the authority of Zexen."

"Come on, I'll take you back to the surface." Louis shook the lace around the horse's head and they began to gallop to the top of the hole Sasarai created.

Leo cut and slashed Fubar with his axe. Fubar fought back by using his claws and beak to hit knight. The Harmonian soldiers swung their weapons at Geddoe and Queen. Geddoe blocked while Queen dodged. Geddoe swung his sword left and right slicing through the enemy. Percival charged and used an upper cut technique with his sword to hit Geddoe. Geddoe held the place where he was bleeding and merely growled at Percival. A pile of blood began to taint the floor. Cecil looked around at the sheer horror of everyone fighting.

"Stop it." She pouted.

Sasarai looked at her and closed his eyes. "It can't be helped. They're trying to protect the thief. If we can't get through them, we have no choice."

"But…" Cecil whined.

"We won't kill them. We just need to arrest them and make them talk." Sasarai then used the Pale gate rune and summoned Pale Palace.

The Summon did some damage on Geddoe, Hugo, Queen, and Fubar. It was enough for them to actually give up.

"That's enough." Sasarai called out. Geddoe and the others could barely move. "Take them in now."

Geddoe gritted his teeth as the Harmonian men were getting closer to arrest him and Queen.

"Boss!!" Ace yelled. On top of the ruin Ace, Aila, Joker and Jacques were standing with their weapons aimed at the army. "Cover your eyes."

Aila and Jacques fired two arrows with flashers on them. When they exploded everything turned white. Sasarai covered his eyes as well as did everyone else. When the flasher cleared up, Geddoe and the others were gone.

Sasarai snarled. "What are they up to?" Sasarai frowned and waved his arm to everyone. " Search the area! Don't let them escape."

Borus looked ahead and spotted them heading towards one of the caves. "There! Charge!"

The small army continued to chase for the thieves, while Geddoe and the others were running away.

"So what took you so long." Queen frowned.

"Hey, we got lost okay." Ace said rubbing his head.

"We wouldn't have gotten lost if you didn't lead." Joker snorted.

"Hey I got us here didn't I?"

"Guys they're coming." Aila growled and turned around. She took an arrow from her back and aimed it at the men.

The arrow men got their bows ready and fired on Geddoe and his group.

"If they want a fight so badly, lets give them one." Ace growled.

"I'm with you." Hugo nodded and ran towards the enemy.

Geddoe sighed and took out his sword. The continued to battle everyone that came into the cave. One by one the men came into the cave and fought their hearts contents. Aila and Jacques preformed Heaven's rain. While Ace and Joker did mercenary attack. Even though the soldiers were much weaker, they were eventually getting tired from the amount of fighting. Fight after Fight after fight, it seemed almost endless.

Joker began to pant heavily. "You know. This is starting to remind me of Senai Mountain."

"That's what I was thinking of too." Ace huffed.

"There's still more coming, Geddoe!" Queen called.

"Lets continue to run." Geddoe place his sword back into its cover and began to run in the opposite direction.

"Oh yeah, this is different from the time at Senai Mountain." Ace still panted while they ran.

"We got them!" Borus said. Borus and the rest of the knights came in just in time to see the whole group tired from all the fighting. "Give up now."

"We have no choice." Ace said hunching over and breath heavily.

"No way." Hugo said. "I won't turn myself over, especially to the likes of them."

"Always a stubborn barbarian." Borus frowned.

Aila snarled at him. "At least we don't go raiding dead people's corpses."

"That's not for us to decide." Leo said shaking his head.

"That's right. You're Zexen's dogs." Hugo hissed.

"What did you say?" Leo growled.

"Surrender now." Percival said calmly. "We just want the rune back. We don't want to fight."

Hugo shook his head.

"Listen…" Borus drew out his sword and was about to attack when he heard a strange swirling sound. A strange dark glow started to surround the area. "What's that?" The glow grew larger and larger, soon everything became black.

When Hugo and the others opened their eyes, they saw everyone was knocked down. They weren't moving either.

"This power.." Hugo shook his head when he realized who had done this. "TIR!!" he yelled.

Tir was near the entrance of the cave, staggering on his feet and clinging to the wall for support. Tir was slowly breathing and calling for Hugo. Tir fell into Hugo's arms.

"Tir! Tir!" Hugo shook Tir to make him open his eyes.

"Hugo…" Tir said weakly. "Find a boy named Thomas. He should be the castle master of Budehuc castle."

"Thomas?"

"Yes…This was Luc's…last request. No…this was what …the true rune…wants. It's already bee decided." Tir held out the wind rune and placed it into Hugo's hand. "Please go."

"No I won't leave you."

"As a friend I beg of you. There are more men coming. They'll think I'll have the rune. That should be enough time for you to hide in Budehuc castle."

"No I can't. You're my friend, and I won't let you get captured."

"You're kind. But please go. They're coming Hugo…" Tir closed his eyes and his head dropped down.

"Tir! Tir!!"

"They're in the cave. Lets hurry." Said one of the other men.

Geddoe grabbed Hugo's arm. "We have to go."

"No, I…"

"Hugo!"

"Alright." Hugo said shaking his head. "Tir hold on. Once we give the rune to Thomas we'll come rescue you."

Hugo then ran towards the others and they went farther into the cave. The tunnel became darker and darker until Ace bumped into something. Ace nearly fell to the floor.

"Ace, what happened?" Queen asked.

"I don't know…" Ace then felt the area ahead of them when he realized it was a dead end. Ace gasped. "It's a dead end."

"What should we do?" Aila asked in a worried voice.

Suddenly the rune Hugo was holding started to glow. The wind rune did a cyclone and drilled a hole through the wall to make a new tunnel. "How…?" Hugo was a bit puzzled and wondered if this was Luc's doing.

Geddoe went in first and went to the other side of the tunnel. Then the others. One by one they went through it. Fubar was a bit hard to fit. Hugo pushed Fubar into hole, but it seemed Fubar was stuck.

"Fubar, when we get back home, I'm putting you on a diet."

Then Hugo heard footsteps coming closer. Hugo pushed Fubar even harder until Fubar burst through out of the other side. Hugo dashed through the hole and then closed it with the wind rune and seal it with his fire rune.

The soldiers got to the end of the tunnel but only found a dead end.

"Where did they go?"

"They must of given us the slip again, come on, they can't be far."

The started to run in the other direction to look for the rest of the group.

Hugo sighed and looked around. "Where are we now? This place seems familiar."

"Yeah it does." Queen frowned.

"You're on the bottom floor of Budehuc castle."

Everyone turned around and saw Eike. The Librarian of Budehuc castle. He was still as the same ever. Pale skin, droopy eyes, skinny and bland taste in clothing.

"Eike." Hugo gasped. "Its nice to see you again. What are you doing here?"

"Oh I come here often to read quietly by myself. Is that the wind rune?"

Hugo drew out his knife ready to fight, while the others placed their weapons on Eike.

"This seems familiar." Eike mumbled.

Geddoe frowned. "Are you with the Zexen army?"

"No. I don't really care for them. Are you on the run from them?"

"Yeah. Did you know about it?"

"I only heard rumors. I guess Zexen wouldn't go out and say that they raid corpses out in the open. So they didn't officially announce this."

Everyone put their weapons away trusting the pale faced man.

"Then will you help us?" Hugo asked.

Eike nodded. "I received a message from Tir Mcdohl for me to meet him. But he didn't show up yesterday so I assumed it was a joke. I see why he was so secretive about it. This is for master Thomas isn't it?"

"How did you know?" Hugo was surprised that Eike even knew that Tir wanted to give it Thomas.

"Thomas seems to have a kind heart. He is suited for the wind rune, that is why I thought Tir was referring to him."

"Can you take us to Thomas then?" Queen asked.

"I can't. That would cause too much suspicion. The Zexen knights might come here since I saw Cecil leaving with them earlier."

"Fine, we'll wait here." Geddoe said folding his arms.

"There's no need for that either. Just make sure you're drawing attention to yourself. You can go around the castle as long as no Zexen soldiers see you. Its probably best if you spoke to Lord Thomas during the night time."

"We can't wait that long." Hugo protested. Eike titled his head curiously at Hugo. "Tir, Tir was taken by them. He used all his strength to save us. So we need to give this to Thomas so we can plan for Tir's rescue."

Eike shook his head. "I think Tir will be fine."

"What? He's with those iron heads. How can you say that?"

"Those iron heads are just like you. Taking orders from the people they believe in." Eike turned to the other direction and started to walking towards the elevator. "Besides, I believe Tir can take care of himself. Despite all the pain, he still stays positive. A truly admirable man."

"So you want us to leave him." Hugo growled.

"Do what you like, just be careful. I must be off. If the others look for me, they'll probably find you here." Eike went into the elevator and left them.

"Tir…I won't let him be killed like Lulu and Jimba was. I won't let another friend die." Hugo sighed to himself.

The soldiers started to come out of the hole. Borus, Percival and Leo were knocked out. Chris got off Louis' horse and ran towards them. They were knocked out cold much like she was when Tir used soul eater on her.

"Borus! Percival! Leo!" Chris frowned and turned to Roland. "What happened?"

Roland shook his head. "There was a black light. By the time our men arrived everyone was like that. To take down half an army, he must have a very powerful rune." Roland turned his head to the man who was carrying Tir.

"Tir!" Chris gasped. She felt the boy's head, but he gave no response. She felt his neck for a pulse, and was relieved when there was one. "He's okay."

"Why are you worried about him?" Louis asked. "He was the one who did this to you, Percival, Leo and Borus."

"Uh right. Sorry. I guess I was excited that he was alive that's all. We can question him back in Zexen."

"We'll come with you." Sasarai smiled softly.

"Uh there is no need for that." Chris said looking back at Sasarai and shaking her head.

"Its no trouble." Sasarai smiled kindly. "We want an answer from him too."

"Lady Chris?" Chris turned around to see Louis holding Chris' horse by its strap. "Are you ready?"

"Yes. Lets go." Chris hopped on to her white horse and they rode to Vinay del Zexay. Chris couldn't help but think, now more then ever, she wanted to be free from the binds that Zexen was holding her.


	7. Reuinion

Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

Request: Beta reader please…If anyone is interested please e-mail me. I know this is a bit selfish, but I don't want to do this alone. As some of you can tell my grammar isn't good and neither is my story structure, despite I'm a native English speaker. I'm more of a script writer, and I wish this story to look like a novel style. Thank-you.

A leaders burden

Tir was brought to the Zexen council for a trial hearing. His hands were tied behind his back, the ropes were securely tightened. The knights took him to the center of the council room, and there Tir awaited his judgment. The council members frowned at the sight of the boy. Sasarai, who was also there, was sitting in one of the chairs smiling slightly at him.

"Lord Mcdohl of the Liberation army." One of the men smirked.

Tir didn't say anything.

"Why on earth did you steal the True Wind Rune. Don't you know stealing other people's property is wrong."

Tir continued remained silent.

Sasarai frowned and went up to Tir. "Hikusaak was recently attack by two men and a woman. Do you know anything about this."

A small smile suddenly formed across Tir's face.

"So you do know something about it." Sasarai's eyes narrowed at Tir's face. "Could you tell me who they are."

Tir went back to giving them the silent treatment.

One of the council members pounded the table. "Say something damn it."

Tir didn't even look up, it was as if he was completely mute.

"Damn, you punk. Guards take him away."

"Wait." Sasarai interrupted. "Does this have anything to do with that Witch you call Leknaat?"

Tir was still silent.

"I see. Alright you can take him away." Sasarai said waving his hand at them.

"You know something Lord Sasarai?"

"Judging from his expression, its possible that he's working with those who attacked Hikusaak."

"So what does that this mean?"

"I don't know yet. Only he can tell us."

Tir was taken to the court yard behind the parliament building. The knights tied his wrists together and hung him in the center of the court. Tir's face didn't even wench when they took out the weapons that they were going to beat him with. They had gotten some clubs and began smack them against Tir. Tir grunted, but didn't scream. The guards looked at Tir, and no matter how many times they hit him, his face never changed. They hated his eyes. When ever they looked into his eyes, they wanted to stop. There was something about him that gave them hope of the binds of destiny. That they no longer have to take the crap the Zexen council always gives. Just by looking into his eyes, they wanted to join him and see his world. Tir's eyes were very kind to them despite what they were doing to him. Eventually, they stopped beating him to take a breather and looked at him.

"He hasn't even screamed yet."

"Well he was the leader of the Liberation army and he did participate in the Dunan wars. So its possible that he can within stand a great amount of pain."

"Maybe. Hey kid why did you steal the rune."

Tir remained silent, hanging there like a dummy.

"Damn. We need to make him talk." The man grabbed Tir's head and made him look at him face to face. "Tell us! Where is the rune!"

Tir still remained silent. His eyes were starting to get to the man. The guard hated it. Tir's eyes had the look of determination, as if nothing could break him. The guard was starting to get impatient.

"Stop looking at me like that." He shouted and punched Tir in the face. The guard wiped his mouth and growled. "Our shift is over." He called to the others. "Lets go."

Tir continued to remain still. Chris quietly snuck a peek from one of the doors to look at Tir. She didn't understand why she wanted to see him again. There was something about him that she wanted to get know more.

"Lady Chris, is something wrong?"

Chris turned around and saw Borus looking at her curiously. "Borus?"

"Sorry for startling you Milady. What are you looking at?"

"That man, there is something about him."

"Lord Mcdohl? What do you mean?" Borus stood next to Chris to glance at Tir who was still hanging still. "He certainly was a powerful thief."

"Its not that." Chris shook her head. "Have you seen his eyes?"

"No. Why? Is something wrong with them?"

"No. Its not that. When you look in his eyes, you just can't help but feel hope."

"Hope?"

"Yes, strange isn't it?"

"A bit I guess. Do you feel pity towards him?"

"You could say that."

"Chris…"

"I know. I shouldn't. He's the enemy." Chris sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just not myself today. I think I should go home." Chris began to walk away and stopped herself midway. "Maybe you should talk to him too. Then you might understand what I'm feeling." Chris said leaving the parliament building and went straight home.

Borus went up to Tir, who was still hanging still by the rope, it was almost as if he was asleep. Borus examined Tir's face closely. He lifted Tir's chin gently and continued to studied his face. Tir's eyes were half open, Borus shook his head and backed away a bit from Tir.

"Who are you?" Tir asked.

Borus was a bit shocked that Tir suddenly talked after remaining silent for such a long period of time. He shook his head and place a hand on his heart. "I'm Borus. One of the 6 mighty knights of Zexen."

"Is that so. What is it you want."

"Chris told me that you have interesting eyes."

"And? What do you think?" 

Borus looked closely into Tir's eyes. Like everyone else, he saw a determination and softness in Tir's eyes. As if Tir knew the answers to any problem Borus could ask. Borus blinked when he let himself go into Tir's eyes. He shook his head and turned away from Tir. What kind of power did this boy have. "What? Your eyes…"

Tir merely smiled kindly at Borus. "A lot of people say that."

Was this the feeling that Chris was talking about? Borus shook the feeling off. "You're still a criminal. You stole the wind rune from Zexen, so you're getting what you deserve."

"I suppose so."

"Well then, if you would excuse me." Borus began to walk away, but stopped in the middle of his tracks. "For a criminal you seem like a nice guy though." Borus left the court yard, and leaving Tir to hang in the hot sun with his blood drenched body.

Meanwhile, back at Budehuc castle, Hugo was pacing around in the hotel room. He couldn't stand the wait of giving Thomas the wind rune. He knew that Tir was probably with those ironheads. He didn't want to think what they would do him. Especially since he stole something so valuable.

"Sit down." Geddoe frowned. "Walking around won't help."

"Sitting won't help either." Hugo growled.

"We just have to be patient Kid." Ace said relaxing on the bed. "If we went outside, those Zexen knights would come and get us."

"I know." Hugo sighed. "I just feel so helpless like this."

"Don't worry Hugo." Aila smiled. "I think he'll be fine."

"By the way Boss. Why are we helping him now?" Ace asked as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

Geddoe looked at everyone and closed his eye as usual. "All I can say is that I have a good instinct about him that's all."

"That's it?" Ace gasped. He then cringed and started to rub his head. "Jeez, I thought you'd come up with a better reason."

"What was that?" Queen frowned.

"Uh its nothing." Ace said trying to shield himself from Queen.

Hugo shook his head. "Can't we sneak past them?"

"Its probably best if we don't draw attention to ourselves."

"Unless…" Aila began to think. "We can disguise you."

"Huh?" Hugo didn't like the look in Aila's eyes.

"Hey that's not a bad idea." Queen smirked and place a hand on her hip. "I wouldn't mind giving Hugo a make over."

"M-Make over." Hugo stuttered. "You can't be serious."

Aila and Queen both grinned at him. "Don't worry. We'll make you look pretty."

"What? What makes you think I'll allow you." Both Aila and Queen gave him an evil look. Hugo quickly hid behind Geddoe. "Make them stop."

Geddoe looked back at them and shrugged. "Do what you want."

"What? No way am I letting them give me a make-over."

Aila frowned. "Don't you want to see Lord Thomas?"

"Um, yeah…"

"Then let us disguise you so you can go out."

Hugo eventually gave up a surrendering sigh. "Alright."

"Hey girls." Ace frowned. "Don't make Hugo look like a girl, he might attract some of the guards." Ace teased

"Hey!" Hugo yelled.

"He has a point." Joker shrugged. "You have a young face, so you can easily pass as a girl."

Hugo hissed at Joker like the cat he is.

"Too bad. He would of made a cute girl." Queen joked.

"What did I agree to?" Hugo asked himself.

"Come on Hugo. If we disguise you well enough then the Zexen soldiers won't recognize you." Queen said as she patted Hugo's shoulder.

Queen and Aila took Hugo by the hand and dragged him downstairs. Queen looked outside to make sure there were no Zexen soldiers passing by. When the coast was clear Queen waved at Aila and Hugo to go. They ran to the item shop across from the hotel looking around, just incase someone was looking. Hugo sighed, he couldn't believe he was actually going through with this stupid plan. He wish he could think of a better plan so he wouldn't have to go with this one. When they arrived at the item shop, Queen swung the door open.

"Ah! Welcome to my item shop. Oh its you." Gordon smiled. "What brings you here?"

"We need your help." Queen said as she held the door open to let the others in.

"Ah Lord Hugo. I heard you had a run in with the law. You certainly have a habit of getting yourself into trouble."

Hugo rubbing his head shyly. "I didn't mean for it to get this far."

"No need to worry. You are a friend of Gordon." Gordon smiled and placed an assuring hand in front of him. "So how can I help you ladies today."

"We need you to help us disguise him." Queen said giving Hugo a light push towards Gordon.

Gordon raised his eye brow and placed a thoughtful finger on his brow. He slowly walked around Hugo and then placed his hands onto Hugo's shoulders. "Ah yes. I'll make you look like a fine gentleman so that everyone would be envious of you."

Queen shook her head. "No no, we need him to look more casual. He needs to blend in with everyone. If you make him stand out, he'll probably attract unwanted attention."

"Ah I see. Well then, lets see what I have." Gordon smiled as he went to the back of his counter to get to his trunk. He burrowed through his things, looking for the perfect outfit for Hugo. "Ah, here is something." Gordon pulled out a black suit. It had a white shirt underneath, black pants, with a black jacket as a cover and a black top hat.

Aila squinted at suit. "That suit looks familiar."

Queen frowned and shook her head. "If we gave him that, he would definitely stand out. Do you have anything else."

"But of course." Gordon placed the suit back in a neat fashion. Then he burrowed in the trunk again and took out a brownish outfit and gave it to Hugo. "Ah, yes. This will do nicely. There is a change room in the back. Why don't you put it on."

"Uh, alright." Hugo looked at the clothing as if they were rags. He took a long sigh and went to the back room.

"What did you give him?" Aila asked titling her head.

"Some Zexen clothing. He'll be a very handsome looking boy." Gordon smiled proudly.

The three wait and waited. Hugo was taking some time to change into the clothing. Alia was beginning to grow impatient.

"Hugo. Do you need help? We can send Gordon to help you."

"No!" Hugo yelled. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Gordon asked in a worried tone. "I can help you if you don't know how to put on the clothing."

"NO! I'm fine. Just give me another minute."

"Well hurry up." Queen said with an impatient tone. "We don't have all day."

"Alright, I'm coming."

When Hugo opened the door. Everyone's mouth dropped open. Hugo was brown wearing overall shorts with a white shirt underneath, the shorts were cut off around his knees. Hugo was also wearing brown gloves with brown shoes to match.

Aila grinned. "Hey, I never knew you had such nice legs. It must be from all the running you've been doing." Aila teased.

"Shut up!" Hugo snarled.

Aila then frowned at him. "What took you so long anyway? That outfit doesn't look difficult to put on."

"I couldn't hide my weapons well with this outfit. Why do these shorts have to be so high."

"Sorry Lord Hugo. It was the only one I could find at the time, but you do look marvelous."

Queen walked around Hugo and shook her head. "This is good and all, but we still need to hide his face."

"Ah, I got just the thing." Gordon went to his shelf where he had many objects. He stopped in front of it and trailed through the row of hats on the shelf. He took out a brownish-gray beret and placed it on to Hugo's head. It fitted nicely over Hugo's head and the shadow covered his eyes a bit so you couldn't get a good look at him.

Queen titled her head and looked at Hugo. "Okay this will do." Queen smiled. "Well you better get going."

"Uh yeah. What about you two?"

"We'll go back to the hotel when the coast is clear." Queen nodded.

"Alright. I guess I'll try this out." Hugo took a huge gulp and then started to walk outside. The Zexen soldiers were walking around the area. Some of the men were victims of Tir's Soul eater rune and was taken to Budhuc castle to be recovered. Hugo walked out of the item shop and started to make his way to the mansion of the castle. The soldiers glanced at Hugo, but nothing more. Most of their attention were on his legs anyway. Hugo wanted to slash them with his knife when they looked at him, but he had better things to do. His main objective was to find Thomas so they could rescue Tir. Hugo went up the stairs and was about to open the door when the door burst opened.

"Oh no. Are you okay?"

Hugo groaned and then shook his head. He looked up and saw Cecil and Thomas looking down on him. Thomas was taller now, but still looked a bit skinny. His hair was also cut as well, and his voice changed a bit. Cecil was slightly taller too. Her hair was longer, but she still wore the same clothing. Hugo jumped on to his feet when he recognized Thomas. "Lord Thomas!"

Thomas blinked. "Yes? You're not hurt are you?"

Hugo shook his head. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Not here." Hugo looked around and made sure there were no Zexen soldiers looking at them. "Can I talk to you in the Library."

Thomas looked at Cecil and nodded. "Alright, lets go."

They entered the mansion and began to walk up the stairs. Hugo looked around, and saw all the paintings and vases he found during his trips were still there. There were also the mini statues and the suggestion box at the top of the stairs. Hugo remembered getting many letters from everyone. They would tell him how they felt that day, what their opinion on the war was or just plain suggestions on how to make the castle better. A smile crossed Hugo's face. He couldn't believe that so much time has passed since that time. When everyone was working together and living happily. Finally they made their way to the Library. When they opened the door, the saw Eike organizing some books. He stopped what he was doing and turned to Thomas.

"Lord Thomas. What a pleasant surprised. Did you want to red something?"

"No. This boy wanted to talk to us about something." Thomas said pointing to Hugo. "So what is you want to talk about?"

"Uh hold on a minute." Hugo went around the library to make sure there was no one else. When he made sure there was no one else, he took off his hat.

"Hugo!" Thomas and Cecil said at once.

"Its been a long time." Hugo smiled shyly at them.

Cecil thumped her spear on the floor and frowned. "What are you doing here? If you stay, the Zexen soldiers will catch you."

"I know." Hugo said lowering his head. Then he looked at Thomas with a determined look. "But I needed to give something to Lord Thomas first."

"Me? What is it?"

Hugo took the wind rune out of his pocket and showed it to the shocked couple.

"That's, the true wind rune." Thomas gasped.

"Yes, Tir Mcdohl wanted me to give this to you."

Thomas nearly jumped back when Hugo held it closer to him. "But why?"

"Perhaps this will help." Eike held out an envelope addressed to Thomas.

"Its from Lord Mcdohl." Thomas said as he opened the letter. He read the letter out loud. "Lord Thomas, forgive me for giving you such a heavy burden. This was the request from the former rune bearer Luc as well as the True Wind Rune. Over time, Luc felt he was no longer human, but a host for the rune. He wanted to be free from his destiny. Like me, he wanted to free everyone from the bonds of destiny. No one should be destined to wear a rune forever. Please do not hate him for it. Like every leader, he did what he thought was right. Luc admired you all in reality. When you and Cecil tried to protect Sasarai, he saw what a strong heart you had. This will sound selfish, but I want you to take the rune for the time being. I wish to free Messiah. If Eike is with you, please ask him about the legend of Messiah. I have already talked to many true rune holders and they are currently collecting true runes from around the world. I have arranged that we met at the top of the world. If this plan is successful, we will no longer be bond to the fate of the true runes. If you decide to join us, A sailor named Tai Ho and Yam Koo should be around your castle. I told them to wait until I returned. If I'm not with you, show the wind rune on your right hand. Until we meet. Tir Mcdohl."

"Legend of Messiah?" Thomas asked titling his head. "What is Messiah."

Everyone turned around to look at Eike. Eike nodded slightly and told them. "The Legend of Messiah is an old Sindar myth. Messiah is supposedly the child of sword and shield."

"Sword and shield?" Hugo asked. "You mean from the legend of how the 27 runes got created."

"Yes. According to the old Sindar myth, Messiah will be combination of dark and light. It will possess all the true runes and become god. It is unknown if Messiah is a god of chaos or order though."

"So then, this plan is risky." Hugo said shaking his head.

Thomas looked nervously at the rune. "If Lord Mcdohl wanted to revive Messiah, then why does he want me to have this rune."

"It must be the same reason why he didn't take my rune." Hugo said looking at his right hand.

Thomas titled his head. "What reason is that."

"He needs us. That's why. He can't do this alone."

"You think so?"

"I know so." Hugo nodded. "That's why I want to help him."

Thomas shrugged. "I see, but still I can't. I can't accept this. I still have responsibilities here."

"So you're not going to help?" Hugo asked with a sad look.

"Well, I can't leave without giving everyone a notice, but I do want to help." Thomas then looked at Cecil. "Cecil, what should I do?"  
"Lord Thomas." Cecil smiled at him. "Why don't you look within your heart. If you choose to do this, I'll protect you along the journey."

"Cecil.." Thomas looked back at Hugo's ambitious eyes and nodded. "Alright. If he really needs me then I'll do my best to lend him a hand." Thomas held out his right hand and the wind rune began to glow. A bright light shimmered around Thomas' hand and the symbol of the True wind rune was place on to it. Suddenly, Thomas collapsed on the floor.

"Thomas!" Cecil cried and helped her master up.

Thomas chuckled. "Funny thing is this is exactly how I became a castle master as well."

Cecil smiled and hugged him.

Hugo grinned at Thomas. "Now, we can bust Tir out of jail."

"Jail, was he caught?"

"Yeah, he did it so I could give you this rune. Now we need to think of a plan to help him escape."

"Escape?" Thomas said with a worried look, but soon it became a determined face. "Yes. Tir took the time and trouble to give me this. We should help him now."

"How are we going to do that?" Cecil asked?

"Perhaps you can use the Sindar ruins under the castle."

Thomas gasped. "There are Sindar runes under the castle?"

"Yeah. we stumbled across them when Chris and Geddoe were chasing us." Hugo shrugged.

"Oh, so we can use them to get to Zexen."

Eike nodded. "Yes, but the place is unstable so it could easily collapse. Once you go through the Sindar ruins you'll get to the northern cave of Zexen."

"Ah! That place where Guillome was stashing all those people's stolen items." Hugo said remembering when he and Melville went on the treasure hunt.

"If you go through there, you can sneak into Zexen at night and break Lord Mcdohl out."

Hugo nodded in agreement. "Okay sounds like a plan to me. You coming Thomas."

"This is sudden." Thomas said holding his head. "Lets hurry then. I need to finish some paper work, but I wanted to have lunch first." Thomas stomach suddenly growled.

Hugo's mouth dropped out. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't realize that. I guess we should eat first."

Later that day, Tir was getting beaten by Harmonian troops. They took out their weapons and began to smack them against Tir like a practice doll. Sasarai was standing in front of him with an impatient look. He then grabbed the back of Tir's head so he could look at his eyes.

"Where is Hikusaak's rune?" Sasarai asked.

Tir didn't say anything.

Sasarai punched him across the face. "Stop being stubborn. We wouldn't have to do this is you told us. Just tell us your objective and what happened to Hikusaak."

Tir blinked and raised his head slowly to look up at Sasarai. "I'm sorry."

Sasarai was confused with this response. "What do mean?"

"You have to be born to bear the rune. You never had a life like the rest of us. You were born with the burden. Now, you follow Hikusaak because you don't know how to live through life without him. You are bond to be his for the rest of your life."

Sasarai stepped back, scared of what he was going to say next. "Stop it! You don't know anything about me."

"We're the same aren't we? We both possess the a true rune. Just like Luc did. Only he experienced true happiness before he died. Which should make us both envious of him."

Sasarai shook his head. "I won't let you get to me. Continue with the beating and questioning."

Tir was constantly beaten and then he was thrown into the dungeon. Sasarai sealed the door and looked at Tir. Tir was breathing heavily, the beatings seemed to tire him out. Sasarai sighed and said in a calm voice, "If you do not talk tomorrow, we will execute you. Good night Lord Mcdohl." Sasarai then walked away from him. He sighed to himself and thought that it would be best to kill Tir as soon as possible and take his rune.

Meanwhile, Chris was at home drinking tea and looking outside the window. She looked at the beautiful moonlight sky. The scenery began to make her mind wander. She put down her tea and sighed.

"Is something the matter?" Chris' butler came through the kitchen door with some cookies for Chris to snack on with her tea.

"Huh? Oh its nothing. I was just thinking that's all."

"About what?"

Chris took another sip of tea and then placed it on her lap with a sad expression. "That boy Tir Mcdohl. I still think about him even thought he violated Zexen."

"I see. So what will you do?"

"What do you mean? There is nothing I can do about it. He broke Zexen's law and now he should be punished."

"Sometimes the government makes the wrong decisions though."

"I know, but…"

"Chris, what do you think of him?"

"He's a courageous boy, that has a plan for some purpose, but I just don't know what."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Nothing else."

"No."

"Are you sure."

Chris blushed. "Yes I am. I'm just curious about him that's all."

"I see. Why don't you talk to him. Its no good for you to stay here impatiently."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I'm a Zexen knight. I can't become soft to those who disobeyed our laws. I swore an oath for the country of Zexen."

"I see. But if you don't talk to him, you might regret it Lady Chris. After all, he might not be in Zexen forever."

The butler went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Chris looked at her cup of tea and sighed. She closed her eyes and thought, "A knights oath…"

Meanwhile, Thomas and the others were in the assembly hall discussing the plan to break Tir out. Emily, Juan, Piccolo, Cecil, Kenji, Peggi, Dominic, Jefferson, Sebastian. Muto, and Eike were there as well. "Welcome everyone. Its been a long time."

"Yeah." Ace grinned. "This is just like before."

"I don't see why we need to help Lord Mcdohl." Sebastian said wiping some sweat off his forehead.

Geddoe frowned at Sebastian and then looked at Thomas. "So what's the plan?"  
"We'll bust in there right." Emily said happily.

Thomas shook his head. "If we did that we'd have many Zexen soldiers after us."

"We'll sneak in, just like when me and Tir stole the wind rune."

"Yeah, but weren't you two seen though?" Queen pointed out.

"Oh yeah. Well with all of us in it together we can do it."

"Master Thomas, won't this break the Free Trade zone treaty if we go along with this. Zexen will have our heads for this."

"Come on, we have to all do our part to help Lord Mcdohl." Alia said in a pleading voice.

"Well I'll help." Emily said proudly. "I'm getting bored here anyway. There is no one worthy to arm wrestle. I wonder if Lord Mcdohl is strong enough to take me on. Mom always told me stories of how strong he was."

"Well I'm getting too old for this. So I can't be any use." Piccolo shrugged.

"I can help." Kenji said excitedly. "We should do our exercises before we go though."

"We can do that later." Hugo said.

"So we are going to use the Sindar ruins right." Cecil smiled at Thomas.

Thomas nodded. "Yeah. If we use them, then the Zexen soldiers won't be able to follow us."

"Then its agreed." Geddoe said looking around. "Hugo, we need a distraction. So we're going to have you and Fubar distract the guards while we sneak in. Thomas, we'll use your wind rune to make the guards sleep. My team will break into the parliament building and get Lord Mcdohl. In the mean time, Emily and the others will take out any guards that are left behind. Muto can keep an eye on the Sindar ruins to make sure there is no guards heading there. Hugo and Fubar will fly over Zexen and gives us a signal if there are no guards coming."

"What signal should I give out?"

"Fubar's loudest squall. That way the soldiers will continue to follow you."

"So how will Hugo lose the Zexen knights?"

"Thomas and I will combine our runes to create a mist so the guards won't be able to see anything. That should give us enough time to escape."

"Alright this is a good plan." Hugo grinned.

"Then there is no time, lets get to work."

As everyone began preparing for Tir's rescue, Chris found herself in the courtyard of the parliament building. She sighed to herself wondering what she was doing here. She knew that she couldn't let herself become soft for this boy. Yet when she was with Tir, she felt a comfort that she hadn't felt for a long time. Like when she was with her father. The same warmth in her heart that she yearned for years. Chris looked around and went to the basement of the building where the dungeons were kept. All the prisoners where asleep. She then came upon the last dungeon where Tir was. They had to put him in the most secure place. The door to the dungeon was black and had a small window near the top. Chris took a deep breath and shook her head. She couldn't, she mustn't, but why does she want to see Tir alright. To see that sweet smile of his that she only got a glimpse of. She craved for it like a strong addiction.

"Who's there?" Tir asked weakly.

Chris jumped back a bit, afraid the door was going to open.

"That clanging sound…a Zexen soldier. Is there something you want?" He asked kindly.

"Tir?" Chris could only peek through the window of the door. There she saw Tir laying on the ground, breathing heavily. "You're…"

"Chris Lightfellow? What are you doing here?"

"I-I…"Chris began to find herself blushing. "You know I've been asking myself the same thing." She said smiling a little bit. Tir began to crawl near the door. Chris could hear him shuffling left and right. Chris clung to the door. "Lord Mcdohl. Are you alright? Please don't move."

"My body hurts, but I'll be alright. How are you doing?"

"Why are you asking me? You're the one hurt."

"You seemed upset today. So that's why I was asking."

"Tir. Why? Why are you asking such stupid things."

"I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

"No. Its just that, you're the one who's hurt. So why are you concerned about me?"

"You came all this way to see me I guess."

Chris sighed and leaned over the door. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"Its alright. You're like this woman I used to know."

"A woman?"

"Yes. Her name was Sonya. She hated me at first because I was the enemy. But she soon started to respect me. Is that the same case for you?"

Chris smiled and shook her head. "I guess so. You seem to give other people good feelings."

"I suppose so."

"Tir, you're a strange guy. I don't know why I'm here, but I knew that I had to see you once more. Your smile. I couldn't get it out of my head. You're kind and gentle smile. You always looked so sad, but when you're happy I feel a warmth. A warmth I haven't felt since my father was around. This sounds ridiculous doesn't it?"

"Chris.  
"Yes?"

"Can you give me your hand?"

"My Hand?"

"Yes, please."

Chris blinked and then reached into the window. The window was small so she had to take off the top of her armor off. She then reached again. "Tir I can't reach any farther."

Tir raised his hand to reach hers. "I can't reach it. I can't stand up."

"Tir…" Chris tried to stretch her arm a bit more. "I can't reach anymore."

"Just a little more…." Tir continued to reach for her hand. Both hands were staggering, trying to reach for one another. Chris almost cried pain, trying to reach Tir's hand. Tir was gritting his teeth trying to find the strength to push himself up to touch her hand. He was still too weak from the soul eaters power earlier, and the beatings he had gotten that day. Finally, their hands touched the at the tip of the fingers. "I found you." Tir smiled.

Chris then felt cold fingers touching hers. The fingers felt the palm of her hand and then back to her fingers. "Tir…"

"I don't remember much about my mother, but being with you has given me that warmth. Thank-you."

Chris almost cried. "Tir…I should be the one thanking you."

"Lets call it a draw then." Tir said kindly. "Your hand is warm, but mine is cold."

"Its alright. I want to hold your hand just a little longer." Chris sighed and titled her head on the door. She wanted to have this warmth forever.

"Chris…"

Ka-boom!! A loud roar suddenly echoed through the town of Zexen. Chris looked around.

"What was that?"

"I don't know."

Outside of Zexen was Hugo riding Fubar. Hugo yelled out. "Hey! If you want the True wind rune, you have to catch me first you ironheads."

"It's the brat barbarian!" The soldiers growled. They got their weapons ready and began to chase him.

The plan had started.


	8. Jail break

Authors' notes: This will probably contain spoilers for Suikoden 1, 2 and 3. So please play the games first if you don't want spoilers. And the flame champion's name will be Hikaru.

A leaders burden

The soldiers in the Zexen parliament building began to gather their weapons before heading out of the building to catch the ignorant barbarian. As they were leaving to chase Hugo and Fubar south, Geddoe and his party were waiting north of Zexen. They watched as the soldiers were beginning the chase for Hugo.

"He's going south. Let's cut him off!" Many guards started to leave to the south while a few stayed to guard the city. 

"So everyone knows what the plan is, right?" Ace asked as he looked back at everyone.

Emily and Juan nodded. Juan stretched out his arms and yawned. "Lets get this over with."

"Alright, we'll leave the returning men up to you." Queen nodded and then left to go into the parliament building.

Meanwhile, Chris and Tir were wondering what was going on. Chris retracted her hand and placed her armor back on. She then got her sword ready for the intruders. "A battle? At this hour? They must be here for you."

"I think so, too." Tir struggled to get up, but he was still too weak.

"Tir, are you alright?" Chris asked, leaning back on to the door.

"I'll be alright. But what about you? What will you do?"

"What do you mean? I have to fight them."

"I see. I guess it can't be helped."

"I'm sorry Tir. I like you, but it's…"

"Your duty?"

"Yes, I'm truly sorry, Lord Mcdohl." Chris began to leave, but what Tir said to her made Chris stop.

"You don't need to be sorry. You choose to live this way."

Chris sighed sadly. "Yes, this is my choice." Chris then ran off to see what was happening.

Tir rolled over to his back and laid helpless. "Your choice, eh?"

Back with the others, Thomas had used his true wind rune to make the guards sleep. The guards groaned before falling asleep on to the floor. Thomas nodded in satisfaction and waved his arm at the others to signal that the coast was clear. Geddoe and the others started to make their way to the parliament building. From there on, Thomas stayed behind and covered himself with a black cloth so no one would see him. It was best if no one saw him there, otherwise he could endanger the people of the castle.

Geddoe and the others fought with the guards inside. "Get out of the way." Geddoe growled. The guards were shaking in their boots at the sight of Geddoe, but they stood their ground anyway.

"Looks like we have to fight them." Ace smirked. They all charged as one and began to knock out all the guards.

One after another, the guards dropped on the ground like flies. Geddoe used most of his lighting rune to defeat the guards. Ace and Joker did their combo, and Alia and Jacques supported the group from behind. They continued to run and fight until they saw Chris guarding the jail cell.

"Get out of the way." Geddoe frowned as he walked towards her.

"No."

"No?" Queen asked, titling her head and frowning. "If you don't move we will kill you. Are you alright with that?"

Chris looked straight at them. "I'm a Zexen knight. And I'll fight until the bitter end for my country."

"As will I." Borus ran from the parliament, Louis following close behind.

"Lady Chris," Louis said with a smile, "you don't have to fight alone."

"You two came as well?" Chris asked.

"We heard the alert and went here right away." Louis nodded.

Ace smirked. "Well the odds seem to be against you, so how about you give up?"

Borus fanned out his arm in an angry motion. "We'll fight until we die!"

Both Borus and Louis took out their swords and got in front of Chris. Chris pulled out her sword as well and glared at Geddoe.

"I've been waiting for this." Aila snarled. Jacques held her back.

"Our main objective is to free Lord Mcdohl, not to unnecessarily shed blood."

"So how are we going to do that? We can't make them sleep like the others."

Geddoe frowned. "I don't care. We're busting Tir Mcdohl out. Aila, we'll hold them off while you and Jacques get Lord Mcdohl. Understand?"

"But…"

"Please Aila, we don't have much time. Those guards will come back soon." Queen pleaded.

Aila nodded and both her and Jacques left for the dungeon while Geddoe and the others held off Chris.

Both Geddoe and Chris' rune began to glow. "Our runes are responding to each other."

"Lets get this over with." Geddoe took out his sword and got into a fighting position, everyone else following suit.

Aila and Jacques could hear the sound of weapons clashing against each other and the cries of pain. Aila shook her head and continued on.

"Can you feel his spirit?" Jacques asked.

Aila paused, then nodded. "He's up ahead, in the last dungeon!" They reached the last dungeon with the steel black door and small window.

"Lord Mcdohl! Are you in there?" Jacques asked.

"Yes, do you see my weapon anywhere?" Came a weak reply.

"Your staff?" Aila and Jacques looked around and found his staff hanging on the wall. Aila took the staff and placed it into the window. "Is this it?"

"Yes. Please drop it for now."

She dropped the staff, and both she and Jacques heard a loud clang on the floor. "Are you alright?" Aila asked.

They listened and could hear Tir moaning as he trying to stand up. The guards earlier beat up his legs badly. "Stand back."

Aila and Jacques looked at each other before stepping back a bit. A loud bang, and the door fell to the ground. Tir was leaning on his staff like a tired old man. In his hand was a explosion scroll.

"That is…"

"An explosion scroll. A friend gave it to me just in case." Tir smiled.

"You're hurt!" Aila cried.

"We have to leave, let's hurry."

Aila shook her head. "You're hurt. I won't let you go out like this."

"I'll be fine. I can still walk."

"No! You're hurt. Stop being stubborn!" Aila pouted.

Jacques smiled at her, then at Tir. "You better do as she says. She can be pretty stubborn."

"Yes, let me heal you." Aila pleaded and spread her arms out.

Tir was quiet at first, and then a small soft smile crossed his face. "Thank you."

"No problem. Besides, we wouldn't be able to get far if you kept staggering like this." Aila kneeled beside Tir and used her shield magic on him.

Tir closed his eyes and let the yellow spirits circle around him. He could feel the pain in his legs leaving him and his strength returning. Tir opened his eyes and looked over his body to check if anything was still broken. He nodded and smiled at Aila. "Alright lets go."

Geddoe and Queen were starting to breath heavily. Ace and Joker were holing their arms from the cuts the knights made. Chris, Borus and Louis were all panting heavily. They all were stronger then last time. Whenever Geddoe used his lighting rune to take down their health, Chris would use her water rune to heal them.

"This fight seems a bit familiar." Ace smirked.

"You mean like that time we fought with them in the Lizard cave?" Queen asked.

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked.

"I guess you don't remember. It was long time ago so it can't be helped." Queen smirked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Chris continued.

"Enough talk." Borus snapped. "I won't let you play mind games with Lady Chris. Now surrender or we will end up killing you."

"Funny, we were going to say the same thing for you." Ace said rising up a bit. "Damn, if only Aila was here, she could heal us. Or if Jacques was here, we could do a Mercenary A combo."

"Well, we can't go on like this forever. What should we do?" Joker asked Geddoe.

Geddoe remained silent as he continued to stare into Chris' blue eyes. Geddoe's eye was very dark. Chris couldn't tell what color it was exactly, but it looked brown to her. Chris then held her sword in front, as if she was going to perform a magic attack. Geddoe swung his sword back so he could accelerate a more powerful hit. At the same time, they charged at each other and cried a battle cry. The loud thunderous roar of metals colliding against each other echoed through the building. Everyone turned to Geddoe and Chris, their charge surprising everyone. But the sight before their eyes surprised them more: Tir had got in between their charge and took the hit with his staff.

"Tir!" Chris cried.

Tir looked back at Geddoe and then towards Chris. "Stop this at once."

"Tir…" Chris said sadly and began to withdraw her sword.

Geddoe did the same thing at the same time. "You okay?" he asked.

Tir rubbed his shoulder and nodded. "I won't let you two fight. If you want someone to fight Chris, then I want you to fight me."

"What!?" She exclaimed.

"Fight me." Tir said again. "If I win, I get your rune."

"Why?" Chris asked shaking her head. She couldn't believe the boy who was so kind to her before was asking such a cold thing.

Borus glared at him and stood in front of Chris. "If you want to fight someone, fight me." 

Louis then joined in and stood beside Borus. "You'll have to go through me too if you want to fight Lady Chris. I'll protect her until my death!."

The rune on Tir's hand began to glow. The rune wanted to protect its master, but Tir shook his head. "You both love her don't you?"

"Our feelings towards her are none of your business." Borus growled and took out his sword.

"If I defeat you two, then I can get the water rune from Chris?"

"Stop it!" Chris demanded.

"Chris, don't worry. I won't lose to a lowly punk like him." Borus growled.

"Neither will I." Louis frowned with a determined face.

"Tir, you can't take them out by yourself." Queen pointed out.

"Its fine." Tir spun his staff behind him. "Please, the rest of you don't interfere. This is my fight."

Aila looked sadly at Tir, but Jacques placed an assuring hand on her shoulder. He smiled gently at her and then looked at Tir.

Borus swung his sword back and then slashed in Tir's direction. Tir closed his eyes and ducked. He then jabbed Borus in the stomach. The sharp strike knocked the air out of the Zexen knight. Borus was pushed back with a one knock of a blow. Louis glared at Tir before charging. He used a jabbing type of attack similar to Chris's Phoenix. Tir turned to Louis and used his staff like a baton to block each one of Louis' attacks. Then, Tir swung the staff upwards and knocked Louis in the head. Louis went flying back and fell to the ground. Borus yelled and then charged at Tir. He swung his sword, but Tir continued to dodge the sword slashes. Tir then twirled his staff and slashed Borus's right hand. The sword was knocked out of his hand leaving Borus unarmed. Borus then tried to punch him, but Tir caught Borus' punch. Tir held Borus in his arms with a strong grip, Borus couldn't move.

"You don't have to prove anything." Tir said.

"What did you say?"

"You're constantly worried about others think of you. That is why you work so hard to be the best. You think its what is expected."

"Damn you, it's not! Let me go!"

"Borus, if you let others decide who you are then you'll be nothing more then their puppet."

"What are you saying?"

Tir looked at him the eye. "If don't stand your ground, you'll end up falling."

Tir then let go of Borus and let him fall to his knees. Borus didn't understand. This sinking feeling in his heart, and now his legs couldn't move. Why did Tir's words have such an impact on him. Was it because of his eyes again? No, it was something about Tir in general. Tir's power to touch the heart of others.

Chris was holding Louis, who was still knocked out by Tir's blow. Chris didn't hear what Tir said to Borus, and neither did anyone else. His voice was so soft, it was hard to hear. Chris couldn't believe it; Tir had taken out both Borus, one of the best swordsmen in all of Zexen, and Louis. Tir walked up to her and looked at her. His emotionless face started make her feel ill. She stood up with a determined look and pulled out her sword.

"I can't believe you." Chris snarled. "How dare you do this to them! I won't forgive you."

"So what?" Tir's eyes narrowed at her.

Chris couldn't believe this was the same man she held hands with just a few minutes ago. He seemed so kind and gentle before, but now it seemed his heart was cold as ice. "If you want to fight me then here I am."

"I didn't want to fight you, but it looks like it had come to this." Tir raised his staff at her.

Chris, started to concentrate and then used her True water rune to hit Tir. He took the hit, but countered by using Soul Eater and draining her strength. Chris fell to the ground, unable to get up. "Why…?"

"I have a mission at the moment. Like you I have some thing I believe in, and I want see it through." Tir waved his hand and a clear empty orb appeared in front of him. The orb started to shimmer a blue glow and crystals started to come out of Chris. Chris screamed from the pain and her head dropped to the floor after Tir extracted the rune.

"Chris!" Borus yelled, but Geddoe punched him in the stomach hard enough to completely knock him out.

"No…" Chris moaned. "You can't do this. Why? I thought…"

"We both have different missions. Therefore, we are enemies. Remember that Lady Chris." Tir leaned in close to Chris' face. "Stay in Zexen."

He then went to the parliament building to leave. The others glanced at her and then followed Tir. Chris shook her head. "Why? I thought he was kind. He was so cold just now. Was the other Tir just an illusion to get to me?"

Tir and the others were running through the building. They left through the exit and saw Juan, Emily and Kenji fighting with the soldiers who were returning.

"What took you so long." Juan grumbled as he dodged the guard's sword and gave him a right leg snap kick. The guard moaned and dropped to the floor.

"Hey guys, hurry up." Emily yelled as she gave the guard she was fighting one last punch.

Thomas and Cecile were fighting as well. Tir ran towards Thomas and looked at him.

"So we finally meet." Thomas smiled and extended his hand to Tir.

Tir smiled and took his hand to shake it. "Its nice to meet you, Thomas." They all nodded and ran north.

Hugo in the meantime was still riding on Fubar. The griffon looked around and saw Tir and the others running. Fubar pointed his beak at them for Hugo. Hugo nodded.

"Time to finish this." Hugo raised his hand and used the fire rune to burn the guards. The guards continued to follow Hugo and Fubar while Geddoe and the others went to the Northern cave. There Muto was waiting for them with lots of healing items. Muto waved his arms at them.

"I'm glad you're all safe." Muto said happily.

"Is everyone safe?" Thomas looked behind and counted for everyone to make sure no one was left behind.

"Everyone is here." Geddoe frowned. "We should create a mist now to rescue Hugo."

Thomas nodded and started to go south.

"You should leave now." Geddoe said, looking down at Tir.

Tir shook his head. "I want to make sure that Hugo is safe. It'll be my fault if he's hurt."

"I see. A leader's burden." Geddoe said running after Thomas. Tir followed him and the went to go help Hugo.

"Where's that mist Geddoe said?" Hugo wondered. Both he and his griffon were becoming quite tired. Especially Fubar, since the Griffin had been flying earlier. Fubar cooed at him curiously.

Hugo petted his soft head. "Don't worry, they won't forget us. I hope." Hugo was starting to become unsure if Geddoe and his party had decided to leave Hugo behind. He could hear the clanging sound of knights coming. Hugo took out his knife just in case Geddoe didn't make in time. At least he would go down fighting. At the last minute, the mist started to appear. Hugo looked around and saw mist covering everything. Then he noticed a sparkle of blue light. It was Geddoe's lighting rune. Hugo and Fubar ran towards it and saw Thomas, Geddoe and Tir at the end of the blue light. Hugo stopped to greet them.

"Tir, I'm glad you're okay." Hugo said happily.

"Its nice to see you're safe." Tir smiled. "Did you and Fubar see Sasarai?"

Hugo and Fubar looked at each and shook their heads. "You didn't see him in the building?"

Tir shook his head. "If I did, I would of taken his rune already. He was there earlier. He must of left for Harmonia. I guess it can't be helped. We'll probably see him sooner or later."

"Well anyway, we should go back now." Thomas said, nodding.

They all started to run north. When they arrived at the Northern Cavern, Tir noticed the full silver moon. Looking at it, he remembered the last time he saw Kasumi. After the Dunan war, he and Gremio were going to leave Gregminster again. There was still so much to see in the world, and questions that he must find on his own. Before they left, Kasumi came to say goodbye. She was so shy that she couldn't get the words out. She just stuttered nervously and blurted out mixed words.

"Tir, are you really leaving so soon?" Kasumi asked, looking sad

.

Tir didn't say anything and continued to look through the window.

"Well, I guess this is it, isn't it?"

Tir continued to remain quiet.

"Tir, I-I want to be with you." Kasumi began stuttering again and shook nervously. "If that's alright with you. I want to protect you. So I want to go with you!" Kasumi shouted and then looked at Tir.

Tir slowly turned around to face her. Kasumi's heart was beating so fast that Tir could all most hear it. Kasumi blushed and held her heart to silence it a bit. "I don't need protection." Tir coldly replied. "There is no need for you to be with me. Go home Kasumi."

Kasumi's eyes started to become watery from the rejection. She then took a long hard sigh along with a hard swallow. "I see. I'm sorry. It was a stupid thing for me to ask."

Tir turned away from her and looked back the window. "Goodbye then."

Kasumi looked sadly at him and held her heart. She turned to the door to open it, but Gremio was there. "I'm sorry!" She bowed and ran out of the house crying.

Tir watched her run out of the house crying. He felt his heart sink and tears started to come down his face.

"Young master…" Gremio whispered and hugged him gently.

"I didn't want to say such things to her, but…" Tir said trying to hold back the tears, and wiping the ones that came out.

"I know." Gremio said in a soothing voice. "Tir, its still not too late. You can still be with her, can't you?"

"If I'm with her, I'm afraid of…"

"I don't think Soul Eater is a bad rune."

"I don't think so either, but it still resulted in the deaths of four people I cared about. Including you."

"I'm still here."

"Don't talk like that. Soul Eater has your soul still, and once you die…"

"As long I get to stay with you it won't matter to me. If I can take a bit of this burden off you, that's fine with me." Gremio smiled as he took Tir's right hand.

"I know. I just don't want anyone else to die because of me. But I'm glad that you're here with me. If you weren't here it would be much more harder on me."

"I'm glad to hear that. But I think you should apologize to Kasumi."

"No, I can't. I want her to have a normal life in Rokkaku Hamlet. She at least deserves that. Kasumi deserves better then me. Anyway, shall we go then?" Tir asked Gremio. Gremio looked down at the young master and nodded at him.

Tir's heart began to sink again from remembering that time. It seemed so similar when he was fighting Chris. He had broke her heart in the same way. He sighed and said, "Chris forgive me. But I can't let Soul Eater take your soul. If you die because of me, I would never forgive myself. Please stay in Zexen and live a normal life."

"Tir! Is something wrong?" Hugo asked.

"No, its nothing. Lets go." Tir turned towards Hugo and continued to run with him. Tir felt a bit happy around Hugo, because the Karayan boy reminded him of Ted. However, he still felt a bit bad for giving Chris such a cold last impression. 

They ran through the cavern and went through a hole Muto, and Twaikin dug up earlier. Then they ran through the Sindar ruins and through there they finally arrived in the basement of Budehuc castle. They took the elevator and went straight into the mansion. Everyone was exhausted and were trying to catch their breath.

"Phew, its been a while since I battled like that." Thomas said, hands resting on his knees.

"Really? It must be because you're out of shape." Kenji said happily. "We should do more exercises."

Thomas shook his head. "Not now, thanks."

Tir looked around the room to take a long look at his rescuers. "Thank you everyone. We should leave, though."

"So soon?" Cecile asked, tilting her head.

"I guess we should rest first. I'm going to look for Tai-Ho and Yam Koo."

"Alright." Cecile said, waving at Tir. "Goodnight then."

Everyone went to their rooms to rest for the big day tomorrow. Tir went down to the docks where Tai-Ho and Yam Koo were waiting. They were much older now. Tai-Ho's beard was now white, and he had wrinkles like an old man. Yam Koo still had the same shaggy hair he had from before, and both still wore the same clothes. Tir looked at them and nodded.

"The True Wind Rune has it's master now."

Tai Ho nodded. "Good. So we're leaving soon then?"

"Yes, in the morning. Please be ready by then."

"Alright. Then, see you in the morning."

"Tir, is something wrong?" Yam Koo asked.

"Huh?"

"You look sadder then usual. Did something happen?"

"Uh no. I'm just tired. I'll be going to bed."

Tai-Ho and Yam Koo watched as Tir left through the door. They looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Something must of happened."

Tir went outside and then looked at the silver moon again. Then he looked down on to his right hand. "I can't be with anyone." He said looking at Soul Eater. "It would only lead them to death."

Credits:

Editor: Myrmee thank-you for doing a wonderful job on editing my fanfic. You're a great editor and please R&R to her too.


	9. Departure

Attention: For some reason my beta reader hasn't responded for a while, so I need to request another on until the person returns. I hope the person will come back once she has more time^_^. Because judging from some of the new reviews I got some things mixed up. I'll fix those later then. Thank-you. I appreciate any reviews whether its good bad. I know my writing is horrible and I probably got some facts mixed up.

A leader's burden 9

The Holy city of Harmonia became disarray after hearing rumours of Hikusaak's Circle rune being recently stolen. The people began to be greatly concerned on what would happen to their Holy kingdom. If Hikusaak was defeated, then what would become of the kingdom. How could someone be able to defeat the leader of Harmonia, the strongest city in the world, so easily. The mere thought puzzled the minds of the citizens. Harmonia wouldn't have fallen so easily. The thieves must have had a powerful rune, even stronger then the one Hikusaak had. Was there a rune that is stronger then the circle rune that wasn't even known to Harmonia.

Questions continued to flood the city. Hikusaak didn't like the fact that not only was his rune stolen, but now there was panic in his kingdom. If the people begin to see Hikusaak as unfit leader, they would begin a revolution to dethrone him. There were also the Holy Priests that could easily replace him. Luckily he had many loyal soldiers that believe in him. So dethroning him wouldn't be an easy task.

Sasarai was recently sent to Zexen to find out about the thieves who stole his rune. He believed there was some connection towards the two crimes. There have been some reports of stolen runes recently. There must be a connection. After talking to Tir Mcdohl, he decided to go back to Harmonia to give a report to Hikusaak. If Tir didn't talk, then he would have to be taken to Harmonia where they would 'make' him talk.

Taking a deep breath, Sasarai knocked on the large white doors. A thunder echoed through the halls, the door slowly opened with a gentle creek. "My Lord." he said bowing his head and kneeling before to Hikusaak with proper respect.

"You have a report for me?"

Sasarai nodded slowly before gazing upon the great leader. "Yes, I have reasons to believe that Lord Tir Mcdohl is working with the thieves who robbed you. If you we bring him here, we should be able to find out who those three are and where they are headed. Please allow me to borrow the cryogenic capsule."

Nodding in agreement, thinking it would be best, considering they underestimated the last group. "Of course. Please hurry then. There is something about the recent atmosphere that has been bothering me."

"The atmosphere? Do you sense something?"

"Yes, something like a warning I suppose. It feels strange and makes me feel uneasy." shaking his head, Hikusaak started to walk towards Sasarai. He took in a deep breath and then looked up at pale ceiling. "Messiah."

"Messiah? That legend of the successor of darkness."

"Yes, only the Sindar people knew of it. I was able to obtain some information from them long ago. The Legend that Messiah will be the reincarnation of darkness. The legend states that Messiah will either bring order or chaos into the world. If they are planning on awaking it, it will bring chaos to the world. If that is their intentions we must stop them immediately. We, no the world is not ready for Messiah to be born."

"Why would they want to awaken it though."

"Once Messiah is born, then all the runes will be destroyed."

"All the runes?"  
"Yes, if all the runes are gone there will be no protection from Messiah. If it wanted to, it could destroy the entire world without hesitation. Messiah will possess all 27 true runes and their powers. We can't let anyone awaken it. Not until we can survive an attack from God. If Messiah is to be awaken, it should be when we have a stronger power then the runes."

"I understand Lord Hikusaak. Then I will do my part and contact Zexen to retrieve Lord Mcdohl."

"Make haste then. I will expect to see Lord Mcdohl tomorrow."

~*~*~*~

After the escape from Zexen, everyone fell asleep. Tir however, laid awake sitting in his bed. His was gazing outside the moonlight with his chin on his left hand and his elbow on his knee. He wondered how the others were doing. Obviously the ones who went into Harmonia did a great job. Hikusaak was a big target. Tir wondered if they got the True rune that the guild had. They probably did. They were tough enough to handle it. "The silver moon." Tir whispered.

"A reflection of the light that shines on the world." A woman said as she entered his room with a seductive smile.

"Jeanne?" Tir asked raising an eyebrow and squinting his eyes at her.

"Yes, that is my name."

"I see. So you're like the others then." Tir chuckled.

Jeanne nearly gasped when she realized Tir knew her secret. "I guess when you figured it out. But please don't tell anyone. I don't want to scare them."

"Don't worry, I won't give your secret away. Do you want a drink?"

"Thanks, I didn't know you drank."

"I learned from Victor, an old friend, though I don't drink as much as him." Tir said as he took out two glasses and poured some liquor into them. Handing one to Jeanne, he took a sip from the glass in his other hand. "So you work here now?"

"No, I actually work in Brass castle. But I heard what happened and decided to check on things. Lord Thomas was kind enough to let me stay here for the night."

"I see."  
"What will you do now?"

"Go to the top of the world I guess."

"I see, so you really are going through with this."

"Yeah. I have faith that it will work out in the end." Tir took one last gulp and then gazed upon Jeanne's intriguing eyes. "What about you?"

"I'll remain in Zexen and wish you the best of luck." Jeanne smiled before taking her last sip. Placing the glass down on a table, she began to walk towards the door. "Lord Mcdohl, what will you do if Messiah isn't the bringer of peace and order. If Messiah is chaos will you kill it."

"To be honest I don't know."

"I see. Then I hope you are right."

"I hope so too." Tir said laying back on his bed tiredly.

Jeanne walked out of the room leaving Tir to think about Messiah. Tir then looked at his right hand and growled at the site of it. He sighed deeply and rolled over to sleep, he should try to get some sleep for tonight. As Tir closed his eyes, the water rune began to glow from his bag. Opening his eyes lazily, he sat up on the bed and looked over at the bag. Tir got up from his bed to gaze upon the shining blue glow. The glow was warm and bright. Taking the rune crystal out of the bag, Tir examined it by peering into the crystal ball. He sighed and shook his head. "Forgive me for what I'm going to do. I can sense that you are close to Chris. I can't back down now though. I don't want her or anyone having such a responsibility. Sorry, but I can't let you go back to your master."

At the crack of dawn, Tai Ho and Yam Koo were waiting for Tir to come to the docks. The gentle breeze swooshed through the castle. The wind was good enough for them to start sailing. Tai Ho and Yam Koo were getting the sails ready, before they could finish, Tir asked them to talk with him for a while.

"There's a problem."

"What problem?" Tai-Ho asked.

"Geddoe has the True Lighting Rune, and Hugo has the True Fire Rune."

"You mean we're taking along more people?"

"I didn't expect for this many people to come. Cecil, Thomas' guard, wants to come with us. As well as many other people. This boat won't do."

"What should we do then? To take this many people we'd have to find a larger boat, and we have no time for this."

"I know. We have to work quickly since the Zexen and Harmonian soldiers will look for us."

"Lord Mcdohl, you're not thinking about leaving them are you?"

"If that's what it takes to awaken Messiah, I don't care. I made up my mind long ago. Luc was right all along, what's the point of living if we are always being controlled like puppets. The runes have been controlling us for too long, we should kill and love because we choose to, not because the rune manipulates us. Tai Ho, Yam Koo, are you two sure you want to follow with me on this? There is no turning back."

"Like you, we have made up our minds as well. Besides, seems like Lady Lucky follows you everywhere."

Tir blushed and chuckled. "I see. I guess you have a point. Let's hope she's still on our side. Leknaat." He said as he gazed upon the sky.

Soon everyone was awake. They gathered in the meeting hall discussing their next plan of action. They couldn't hide in the basement of Budehuc castle forever, also Tir had to be some where important. Waiting too long was not an option. If they waited too long, Harmonia and Zexen would eventually find them. Tir didn't want to leave with out getting Sasarai's Earth Rune, but he couldn't stand having to get the others involved.

Should Tir steal Geddoe and Hugo's runes now and leave them to be executed? No, he couldn't. There must be another way. A way to get Sasarai's rune and escape with the others. Chris was safe since she never took his side, unlike Geddoe and Hugo who were bond to be executed for the crimes they committed. Tir kept his head down and running the scenario over and over in his head. What was the plan going to be. He wished Maithu was around. He always knew what to do and gave him confident to fulfill his goals. No, he couldn't depend on others like that. "Everyone, we need to get Sasarai's rune and then head to the top of the world."

"How are we going to do that?" Thomas asked.

"Sasarai will most likely come back to Zexen to look for me. If we're all working together then we have to split the teams up. Geddoe, I want you to take the True Water Rune and go to the top of the world. There, you'll meet the Sindar clan."

"Sindar clan?" everyone gasped.

"They're alive? I thought they were extinct!" Ace said.

Tir shook his head. "They let us to believe that were true in order to keep their rituals and documentaries a secret. Geddoe, I trust you'll be capable of going solo in this area."

Geddoe looked down at Tir and nodded. "We'll deliver the rune, what will you do?"

"Thomas and I will stay here. If Thomas suddenly leaves they'll arouse suspicious at Budehuc castle, thus having them arrest the castle and keep the people hostage. I couldn't bare to let others take reasonability for my actions."

"I see." Geddoe shrugged and then smiled. "You're the same as Hikaru."

"I beg your pardon?" Tir asked titling his head.

"Hikaru was the former Flame Champion." Hugo said stepping between them. "I can feel his very essence in this rune. He was a great leader long ago."

"I see. I heard about the Flame Champion years ago. I would have liked to meet him, but we'll discuss this another time. Who is going with whom?"

"We'll go with our captain of course." Ace grinned.

Hugo placed a hand over his heart and stood in front of Tir. "I'll stay with you. Sasarai isn't an easy opponent, much less the entire Harmonia army. You're going to need my help."

Emily began to punch the air and show off her fighting moves. "In that case I'll stay with Lord Thomas and Lord Mcdohl."

"The people of Budehuc castle will remain on Thomas' side, and we want to stay here to defend our castle." Sebastian nodded firmly.

"Right!" Cecil said thumping her spear happily against the floor.

Tir swerved his head around the room, look at the assembling of the groups. "Alright, this should be good enough. Geddoe, I want you to leave now and ask Tai-Ho to be visible around Zexen. If they think I'm with you they'll send some of their soldiers after you."

"That's fine, but I don't appreciate being the bait."

"It's all we need. Sasarai will most likely follow you. In the meantime, we'll sneak aboard on the ship with Sasarai and steal the rune that way. There isn't a boat large enough to dock at Zexen that can fit an army. If they do plan to take an army they'll probably split them among a few large ships. Hugo is your Griffon coming with us?"

"Yeah of course, I can't leave him out of this."

"I see, then we'll have to find a box large enough for Fubar to fit in. Thomas."

"Yes sir?"

"We need to find an excuse for your absence. If Harmonia and Zexen finds out that you're working with me, they'll most likely try to seize the castle. Even with all the grasslanders helping, I don't think you'll be able to take on Harmonia and Zexen at the same time."

"Why not get him to join the search for rune thieves?" Cecil suggested.

"That did cross my mind, but once Thomas changes sides they'll report back at Harmonia and take Budehuc castle as hostage."

"We won't let that happen!" Cecil frowned.

"How about you make the enemy believe Thomas has been captured." Jacques suggested.

Everyone was quiet for a bit, they didn't expect Jacques to say anything so soon. "Yes, that could work." Tir said. "We'll have to put up an act then. If we can get Thomas on the same boat as Sasarai that would make things easier, but if not we'll take over whatever boat he has."

Geddoe nodded and made his way to the door with his group following him. "We'll go on ahead then as the bait. The top of the world you said right?"

"Yes, Tai-Ho and Yam Koo should know the way. And please be careful."

"The same goes for you." Geddoe said before leaving the room.

Meanwhile, the Zexen council was in an uproar, just like Harmonia. They had recently lost the prisoner, the knights had been defeated on several occasions and they had just lost another True Rune to those thieves. Sasarai would be there any minute. What was the Zexen council to do now? They were laughing stocks now because of a mere group continues to make fools out of them. What was Tir Mcdohl's plan? Who cares, the council just wanted an Alliance with Harmonia so they would be able to take over the grasslands more easily. The original agenda was to be kept a secret and the True Wind Rune would be offered as a peace offering on the outside, however, the plan all along was to gain more land along with goods from Harmonia. With both Zexen and Holy Harmonia attacking the grasslands, the land would belong to them.

The council continued to discuss their plans of actions when they heard a knock on the door. "Come in." Said the council member sitting across the door.

Sasarai, Dios and Chris stood outside the room. As they entered, the council greeted them. "Good morning gentlemen." Sasarai smiled as he sat down next to the council member.

"Good morning." Chris said before she sat down in the chair nearest to the door.

"Good morning you two." One of the council members said. "Let us thank the goddess for letting us have this meeting today."

"Goddess?" Sasarai asked titling his head.

"Yes, Saint Loa. She is the goddess that protects this land."

"I see, for now, we should start a search over Zexen and the grasslands."

"We can't, the barbarians would never agree to work with us."

"Council member." Chris said raising her head at the council. "Why do you have the True Wind Rune, and why are you going to give it to Harmonia?"

The council member took a deep breath and sighed. "Chris, we can't survive these days with these mere supplies. We need better things and if we have an Alliance with Harmonia we'll surely get first class citizenship and more then plenty of money. Think of the benefits for the people, there will be more jobs, and we can finally buy Budehuc and give it the finical aid it needs. Wouldn't that be better?"

"Yes, but still…"

"That magician that died had no right having the rune anyway, he was trying to kill us all."

As if a strike of lighting suddenly hit her, Chris remembered what Tir had said to her in the cave."_He wasn't a bad guy either. He wanted people to be free from their destiny. No one should bear these runes._" Chris began to sulk. "Yes, but…"

Sasarai shook his head. "Lady Chris, I understand how you feel, but an Alliance with us would be a great help to you wouldn't it? With the 6 might knights of Zexen, there will be nothing that can stand in our way of protecting the things we love."

"I, understand." Chris finally nodded. "What should we do then?"

"Well we have to find Lord Mcdohl for one thing. We don't know where he went though. If he went to Kayara along with that barbarian, we won't be able to catch him easily."

Sasarai smiled, "Tir Mcdohl still has one thing he needs though."

"What is that?"

"My True Earth Rune. His goal was to take all the True Runes from the start. Right, Lady Chris?"

"Uhm, yes…"

"If his goal is to find all the True Runes…"

"Then he's going to try the same thing as that Magician did 3 years ago."

Sasarai looked around the room to see everyone's face troubled. "Now you know how serious this is. We'll have to move quickly then. If the barbarians don't cooperate, tell them what I told you. If they still don't cooperate then we'll have to oppress them. We must stop him at any cost."

"Sir!" One of the soldiers called out as he came into the meeting room.

"What is it? We're busy." The council member frowned.

"It's that mercenary group Geddoe. He's on a boat with 2 sailors."

"What?" Sasarai snarled. "Did you see which way they were headed."

"Yes, they were heading North."

"North?"

"Yes sir. Shall we send ships after them."

Chris stood up from her seat. "We'll go after them. We have no time to lose. I can feel the True Water Rune calling me."

"You can sense it?" Sasarai asked titling his head.

"Yes, my father and Yun's spirit is sleeping within that rune. I'll get it back no matter what the cost." Chris growled. "Lord Mcdohl, he stole something that was precious to me, he'll pay for it."

A smiled crossed Sasarai's face. It was interesting how this woman suddenly shifted from a quiet girl, to a determined soldier. Sasarai nodded and waved his hand at Dios to walk with him. "We'll join you on the hunt. If Tir isn't on that boat he should be near by. If I'm the one he's after, he'll come for me sooner or later."

Dios's face became worried. "Master Sasarai, are you sure about this? This is most likely a trap to lure you out with a small amount of men. Wouldn't it be better if you stay at Harmonia where you'll be protected."

"Dios, we'll talk about this later, my mind has been made up. Gather the recruits that we gotten from Harmonia."

"You mean those two? Don't you remember what they did?"

"Dios!"

Dios took a hard swallow and bowed his head. "I'm sorry Master Sasarai, we'll be leaving then."

"We'll be taking the boats you have on the docks then."

"That's fine." Chris said as she went through the large wooden doors. Sasarai followed and then Dios. As they were walking towards the docks, Chris troubled mind began to wonder. "_Tir, why…_"

While Chris was heading for the docks, Thomas was trying to find the Silver Maiden. Thomas, Cecil and Juan tried to get in the parliament building, but the guard merely shook his head and stood in front of the door, no matter how many times Cecil threatened him with her spear. Thomas and Juan had to pull her away to keep the guard safe. Thomas shrugged and thought that they should try to go to the docks to see if Tai Ho's boat was visible. In agreement, they headed straight towards the docks. When they arrived, to their surprise, Sasarai, Chris and the other 5 knights were already at the docks loading ships. The 3 of them ran down to the ship to greet Chris and Sasarai.

"Lady Chris! Lord Sasarai!" Thomas called out.

Chris and Sasarai turned around and saw Thomas, Cecil and Juan running towards them. "Lord Thomas?" Chris said as she turned the group.

"A pleasant surprise." Sasarai smiled.

Thomas had to take a breather before he could say anything again. "Lord Sasarai, please allow us to accompany you on your journey."

"Accompany?" Sasarai titled his head in a questioning way, then he noticed Thomas was wearing gloves. "Hmm, this maybe interesting. Thomas when did you wear gloves?"

Thomas broke into a cold sweat. Did Sasarai already figure him out? What was he going to do? If Sasarai starts suspecting him, he'll wind up in jail and possibly execution. "Uh these…"

"I asked him to." Juan said placing a hand on his hip. "It was for a special training, with those thieves running around who knows when he'll have to defend himself."

"That's right!" Cecil gasped. "And they suit him don't they?"

Sasarai smiled politely and shrugged. "I suppose they do."

Chris closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Please you two." then she looked at each of them. "We're in a hurry. If we lose sight of Geddoe we may lose Lord Mcdohl as well."

"Uh right." Thomas nodded nervously. "I'll gather the soldiers I've brought along with me then."

"If you're quick enough then we can wait."

"Don't worry, they're very close by, and I have a few things we can take along."

Chris shook her head. "If you're bringing cargo then we'll have the cargo ship wait for you. I'm going ahead though."

"Uh wait, Lady Chris." Sasarai called out. "There are five passengers I'd you to meet."

"Five other passengers."

"Is there a problem?" A familiar voice asked.

Everyone's head turned towards the voice. The man was covered in black clothing, his long blonde hair was braided nicely and a black hat covered his eyes. The other man was dressed in a long silver coat and had crimson red hair. Next were two old men, one had black hair and dressed in blue and white armor. His hair was short, and skin was pale. Beside him was another man with orange hair, and wearing a red type of armor. He was very handsome, despite his old looks, and had a nice smile. Last, was a woman figure dressed all in black and purple. Her face was covered.

"Yuber! Albert!" Chris snarled as she grabbed her sword.

"There is no need for that." Yuber frowned. "We were sent here by Hikusaak to help with the rune thief search, since you knights obviously can't handle him."

"Why you…"

"Now now." Albert said putting a hand in front of Chris' sword. "We don't need to succumb to violence now do we? We were are here for the same reasons."

Chris gritted her teeth and placed her sword back. "Who are the other three?"

"My name is Miklotov." Miklotov said bowing his head. "I am from Rockaxe."

The then other man bowed towards Chris. "It's a pleasure Milady, my name is Camus, I come from Rockaxe as well. We were part of the Dunan army."

"And the woman?" Chris asked.

The woman remained quiet.

"She's from Ninja village Rokkaku Hamlet." Albert said in her favor. "We have an idea where Lord Mcdohl is headed and have reason to believe the other rune thieves will be there."

"I see." Chris nodded. "It's fine, bring them along my ship. Thomas, if you're bringing items then hurry up and load them up on the cargo ship, I'll tell the knights to let you on board. We'll go on ahead in the meantime."

"Uh yes!" Thomas exclaimed before he ran past the group, with Cecil and Juan making a similar get away.

Yuber frowned at them. "Why are those rats coming?" he asked Sasarai.

"We'll discuss it later." Sasarai smiled as he followed Chris to her ship.

Thomas finally got to where Tir and the others were waiting. They were waiting in the Saint Loa Knight's hideout. Melville and Elliot were more then happy to help them out. They were both excited to meet the one with one of the most deadly runes. The group were all dressed in armor and wore helmets so they wouldn't be easily recognized. The armor was provided with the help of Gordon and Scott. Tir didn't really like using a sword compared to his staff, but he can use his staff later once they get on the ship. Thomas huffed and puffed and got a hold of his breath before he could say, "I got us on the cargo ship."

"Cargo ship? Does this mean we'll be separate from Chris and the others?" Hugo asked.

"How many ships are they taking?" Tir asked.

"Five I think."

"Five?" Hugo gasped. "Why so many?"

"Well I over heard that from Albert that they're planning to go to the same location as Lord Mcdohl in order to capture the other rune thieves."

"I see. We'll worry about that later then. Lets go to the cargo ship then. Hugo you know what you have to do."

"Yeah. Fubar, sorry about this." Fubar squeak sadly and got into the large box. Tir, Hugo, Emily and Cecil lifted the box and began to carry it.

"Good luck!" Melville and Elliot said.

"Thank-you." Thomas smiled and bowed to them.

The group went to the dock where a cargo ship was waiting. Thomas introduced himself to the knight guarding the cargo ship and was let on board along with his cargo. Tir and the others kept their helmets on while carrying the box, then they waited to be ported off to the sea. The sails were dropped and the ship began to move in the direction of the wind. Hugo was watching over Fubar, making sure he was alright, while Thomas and the others were looking out at the sea. Tir couldn't help but think about what Sasarai had in store for them. It was too easy. Sasarai would have been more suspicious of Thomas, especially with his hands covered. Whatever Sasarai had planned, all Tir could was wait.


	10. Revealed

Attention: For some reason my beta reader hasn't responded for a while, so I need to request another one until the person returns. I hope the person will come back once she has more time^_^. Because judging from some of the new reviews I got some things mixed up. I'll fix those later then. Thank-you. I appreciate any reviews whether its good or bad. I know my writing is horrible and I probably got some facts mixed up.

References: 

Tai Ho: sailor from Suikoden 1+2.

Yam Koo: younger brother of Tai Ho.

Templton: First appears in Suikoden1 + 2, he gives the map of the country you're in. His goal is to make a map of the entire world.

Jormangand: World serpent. A mythical creature from Norse Mythology.

Kamandol and Sergei are from Suikoden1. Kamandol was the one who builds an engine so you can visit the doctor of Suikdoen1. Sergei was the man who made the elevator.

World of Emptiness: Where all the monsters that were summon in Suikoden 1 and 3 live. It is also theorized that Yuber and Persmerge are from there.

Zodiac sword: Also known as Star Dragon Sword.

A leader's burden 10

As soon as the ship had sailed, Sasarai held a private meeting with Dios, Yuber, Albert and the ninja girl. He sat behind a table on a chair, and awaited for everyone to gather around. "You all know what happened."

"Lord Hikusaak's true rune was stolen." Albert said flatly.

"Yes. The thieves used the Sovereign rune to cancel out any effect that the Circle rune had."

"How did they get to Hikusaak?" Dios asked.

"We're not really sure. The guards think that it was a rune of invisibility."

"Is there such a rune."

"Not that I know of. We also suspect the work of a Silverberg."

Everyone looked at Albert who calmly shook his head. "I wouldn't know. I'm not that close to my family."

"It's hard to imagine a group of thieves are able to capture a rune, especially from someone like Hikusaak." Dios said regrettably.

"Did they use the same crystal balls that Luc used during the Elemental wars?"

"Similar, but not the same, or so Lord Hikusaak believes." Sasarai replied.

"A new way to capture the True Runes?"

"Most likely. I am curious where these thieves got the technology to capture the runes."

"Indeed. Making such a device is nothing an ordinary man can do."

"In any case I think we should keep an eye on Thomas."

"Thomas?"

"He was wearing a glove this morning. When we were working together with him during the Elemental wars, he never wore gloves. It maybe just a coincidence, but at the moment we should consider him as a suspect."

"I see."

"That is fine with me." Yuber smirked. "I don't mind destroying little rats like him."

Sasarai shook his head. "Let's keep our suspicion of him low until we have proof. I don't want to falsely accuse someone."

Yuber grumbled. "You're too soft."

Sasarai replied with a kind smile and stood up. "You can have your fun later. For now, we wait."

Cradling the boat from side to side, Tai Ho's boat moved across the ocean water. Ace began to feel his breakfast coming up. Queen and Aila kept a look out at the port of the boat, while Jacques was in the crow's nest keeping lookout. Joker and Geddoe were at the head of the boat waiting for something to come in sight. Yam Koo was at the end of the boat trying to catch some lunch.

"A fine day for sailing." Tai Ho grinned. "We'll be at the top of the world in no time."

"Where is the top anyway?" Aila asked.

Tai Ho shrugged. "According to Lord Templton's map and this compass we should keep heading north. Lord Mcdohl has informed me it's very cold there, so once we get there we should wear heavier clothing."

"Heavier clothing?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, Lord Mcdohl thought ahead and already packed you proper clothing for your journey."

"Mr. Tai-Ho." Aila asked tilting her head. "Why are we going to the top of the world?"

Tai Ho smiled. "I'm not sure myself. I just know we should trust Lord Mcdohl."

"You trust him this much without reason?"

"It's not a matter of trust Aila, I just believe in him."

"Believe? Sort of like with chief Lucia and Geddoe then?"

Queen smiled lazily. "Yeah, something like that."

"I can't wait to get there." Aila said happily. "I wonder if it'll be as beautiful as the grasslands."

Ace groaned. "I hope we get there soon, my meals keep coming up, and all this salty air making me sick."

As Geddoe and his team continued to sail to the top of the world, Chris and her ship was getting closer. The knights were preparing their weapons to attack the ship and capture it. Chris directed everyone in which places they should go and what they should do. Roland was in charge of the gunners naturally, the rest were on stand by. None of the knights like battling on water. They weren't navy men, but because Chris wanted to capture Tir herself, there as no choice but to go along with her. They could never leave her side, no matter what.

Meanwhile, Yuber, Albert and the ninja girl were at the head of the ship. Yuber was getting anxious, he gritted his teeth as he watched Tai Ho's ship continued at the speed it was going. "This is stupid." he muttered. "Why should we stay at this speed? Can't we go any faster?"

Albert shook his head. "With this kind of boat we can't move any faster. What do you accept? These people don't have technology like we do back at Harmonia."

"What did you say?" Chris snarled as she walked towards them. "We are trying our best."

"Lady Chris, may I make a suggestion? If we use a harpoon and fire it far enough at the ship we can merely reel it in like a fishing pole. And even if they do cut it, we'll be close enough to catch up to them without pushing the men."

"I suppose."

"Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure if we have a powerful enough weapon to launch a harpoon that far."

Yuber frowned and raised his right hand. "Then we'll make one." Yuber started to chant some sort of summoning spell. "Come to me, servant of the darkness, World Serpent, Jormangand!"

The ship began to shake and a dark shadow began to spread from the bottom of the ship. The water bubbled furiously and splashing from the sides of the ship. The men scattered around the ship, wondering what was below them. Was it a monster? The archers armed themselves with arrows while the swordsmen got into fight position incase the creature tried to come on board. Yuber smiled to himself, finding it amusing how humans were scattering like rats in a sinking ship.

Meanwhile on the cargo ship, Tir suddenly felt a strange presence. Tir and Hugo were currently in the storage area, tending to Fubar. Hugo was worried about Fubar and asked to be stationed in the storage area. Tir decided to stay with Hugo to make sure Fubar didn't make a sound. Anything that could blow their cover would jeopardize the plan.

"Is something wrong Tir?" Hugo asked.

"Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Hugo asked looking around.

"You don't feel that presence?"

"Presence?"

Hugo closed his eyes and began to concentrated, just as he felt the new presence, a pillar of water crashed through the surface, sprinkling little droplets on to the nearby ships. As the water began to descend, a large blue scaly monster stood before them. It's head was of a combination of a snake and a fish, it's long thin body drifted back and forth as it was standing on solid ground.

Yuber turned his head at the gawking knights. "Get a harpoon with a rope attached to it." he growled.

One of the knights nodded and went to get some rope to attach to a harpoon. Just then, Tir went outside to check what was happening. Thomas, Cecil, Juan and Emily were all gawking at the serpent that had just appeared. It looked similar to the monster in the Sindar runes under Great Hollow, but larger.

"How on earth did that man summon such a thing?" Thomas said shaking his head.

"Thomas." Tir called.

"Yes?"

"We both know where that creature's target is, we must act now. Otherwise Tai Ho's ship could be sunk by that monster."

"Oh uh right. We'll get ready then." Thomas smiled.

"Hey you!" One of the knights shouted.

Tir turned around to face one of the knights in charge of the ship. "Sir!" Tir immediately addressed the man.

"What are you doing here? We have to help Lady Chris with that serpent, get the harpoons ready so we can back up the creature when it attack's Geddoe's ship.

"Yes sir!" Tir said and ran to the lower deck.

"And you." the knight said turning towards Thomas and the others. "Make sure to be ready for anything. Those thieves may do something out of the ordinary."

"Uh yes, we'll stand by if Lady Chris needs our help, we'll be ready."

The knight nodded and tended to the other men. Thomas wiped a bit of sweat off his face and looked upon the serpent. A harpoon was in it's mouth attached to a long rope with Yuber holding the other end. Was this man insane? Was he really going to pull a boat towards them alone? The boat was small enough for him to perform such a task.

"Jormangand, go after the ship that has the man with the True Lightening Rune." Yuber smiled as he jumped on to the serpent's head.

Chris mouth dropped open. "Yuber, what are you doing?" She was about to go after him when the ninja girl rose her arm in front of Chris. The girl didn't say anything, she just continued to hold still. "Why are you…"

"She's saying that we should let Yuber handle it." Albert said turning his focus onto Jormangand and Yuber.

The serpent began swimming towards the boat and moved as quickly as a snake finding it's prey. Jacques, with his keen eyesight, saw the serpent ripping through the waters. He yelled down at Tai Ho. "Tai Ho Watch out! There's a serpent coming at us from the south."

Geddoe frowned as soon as he saw who was riding the serpent. "Yuber."

"Damn, hold on!" Tai Ho steered the ship left, dodging Jormangand. As the creature cut through the water, waves began to rock the boat heavily.

Everyone screamed as the boat began to tip over. The creature gave out a battle cry and began to charge for the boat again. It was too much, Tai Ho couldn't control the ship to dodge the waves and the serpent at the same time. Geddoe ran to the head of the ship and aimed his right hand at the serpent whispering, "Hammer of Raijin." A roar of thunderclaps came from the heavens, gray clouds gathered from the clear blue sky. Rumbles echoing in the mist, and a loud roar of thunder came from the clouds. Blue dragons poked their heads from the clouds and looked down at their target. With another trembling roar, the dragons all launched themselves as one and struck the large serpent.

Jormangand screamed as the combination of electricity and water were burning it's body. Yuber left his servant and jumped from the serpent's head, landing on to the boat. "You dirty little cheaters." Yuber growled.

"Get off our ship demon!" Aila yelled as she pulled one of her arrows out.

Ace and the others quickly got ready in a fighting position to take on Yuber. Yuber merely smirked and fixed his hat. "I was anxious to get a dose of blood shed today. I'll take whatever I can get from you." With a flick of his wrist, two swords shot out from his hands. Yuber raised his right arm to his shoulder and his left across, then charged towards the group. Ace first attack but kept missing due to his speed of evasion. Yuber shifted from left and right dodging each attack. Joker used his fire rune, while Aila and Jacques fired their arrows at him.

Geddoe was about to go help when Jormangand poked it's head of the water again. It squalled at Geddoe angrily and tried to attack the boat again. "Damn. Why now?" Once again, Geddoe used his rune to fight off the furious beast.

Meanwhile, Sasarai, Dios and Chris were watching the battle from afar. Witnessing the powerful rune taking on the giant serpent. Chris closed her eyes and shook her head. "Isn't he going a little bit too far?"

Sasarai looked kindly at her and shrugged. "It's what he does best, we should things leave to him."

"Yes, but what if we lose the True Runes because of his actions, wouldn't our efforts be for nothing?"

"Do not worry, the runes have a way to go back to the place they need to be."

"Yes, I suppose you know more of this then I do…"

Just as Sasarai was about to open his mouth, the cargo suddenly exploded. "What was that?"

"The cargo ship in flames? Was it carelessness." Chris wondered.

"Hugo?" Sasarai said in a wondering voice.

Chris froze for a bit and looked ahead. Hugo was riding on Fubar using the fire rune to burn his enemies. The cannons on the ship exploded, the knights tried to seize Hugo but he'd use his Fire rune to burn them in their trail.

"Men! Aid the cargo ship! Quickly!" Chris cried.

Sasarai's eyes narrowed as he saw the other boy rising from the flames. "Tir Mcdohl." he whispered. As if he heard his name, Tir's gaze slowly focused on to Sasarai. The boys looked at each other with challenging eyes. A smirk came across Tir's face as he went back to fighting the soldiers.

"Lord Mcdohl, stop this at once!" Thomas yelled. Tir slowly turned around, eyes stiffened and cold, he faced Thomas with a careless, but serious look. Thomas nearly shuttered, the flames near him were giving Tir such an eerie look. Thomas gulped and continued to pretend to be Tir's enemy. "You can't be serious. Is the leader of the Liberation Army a murder too?"

Tir closed his eyes and shrugged. "I've killed my best friend, my father and the most important in my life. I will have no regrets to kill you as well."

"I won't let you have him." Cecil growled as she stood in front of Thomas.

"You'll have to go through me too." Juan said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Me too." Emily said joining in. "My mother looked up to you. How could you."

Tir shook his head. "You wouldn't understand? You wouldn't be able to since you don't bear a true rune like Hugo and I."

"I won't let you have your way." Thomas shouted.

The group charged at Tir, raising their swords and fists. Tir merely lifted his right hand and said, "Soul eater, Hell…"

A black shadow circled underneath them and white souls shot out from the ground. Everyone screamed and collapsed to the ground. Chris and Sasarai witness this and were shocked to what Tir had done to them.

Chris gritted her teeth, "He won't get away with that. Charge!" Chris shouted to her men. The men hoisted the sails and steered the ship towards the cargo ship. The other three ships followed and began to go towards the Cargo ship..

Albert shook his head. "This is obviously a trap."

"A trap?" Sasarai asked.

"Most likely Thomas is helping them. How else would those two sneak aboard without anyone knowing. The griffon is too large to bring aboard without anyone seeing it."

"And Thomas, he's wearing gloves. He must have the True Wind Rune then."

"Yes. Now we have figured that out, we should make a plan of our own."

Dios shrugged. "Even though we know that now, how are we going to defeat Tir."

"Simple, we use a hostage." Albert looked over where Chris was standing and giving commands to her soldiers. "She'll do for now. We can use her as bait for Tir. Once we capture Tir and Hugo, we will can finally track down the other runes."

"And Yuber?"

"He'll be able to take care of those dogs by himself. The serpent won't be defeated so easily either."

"Is that so, we'll have to move quickly, the two ships are almost touching each other."

The soldiers fired grappling hooks on to the ship of the cargo ship. The archers were aiming their arrows at Hugo and Fubar, who were constantly dodging every attack, or repelling it. As soon as the grappler struck the ship, Tir jumped on the rope and ran across it. The soldiers waiting for him all swung their swords violently at him. Using his rune again, Tir drained the energy out of the soldiers in his way.

"Sasarai. Where is he?" Tir asked himself. He looked around the ship, swerving his head and swinging his staff at anyone who got in way. "Sasarai!" He shouted.

"Are you looking for me?" Sasarai asked. Sasarai stood on the upper floor of the ship, and looked down at Tir with a clam smile.

Tir turned around to see Chris being held by the a woman dressed in black clothing. Chris was knocked out and her loyal soldiers were all crying for Sasarai to let her go.

"What are you doing?" Borus yelled.

"Let Lady Chris go!" Louis snarled.

Sasarai looked at them and smiled. "If you want her to live, stand back." The knights reluctantly took a few steps back, unsure if this would actually make her safer. Sasarai then looked back at Tir who was standing there with a hateful glare. "If you want this woman to live, hand over the runes you've stolen and give us the names of the ones who stole the Circle rune."

"You better do as he says." Said a voice behind Tir. He didn't even bother to turn around to see the face of the red knight holding his sword against his neck.

"Lord Mcdohl." Miklotov said holding his sword on the other side of Tir's neck.

"You two…" Tir knew them a bit. They fought for the Dunan army years ago. "Why? I didn't think you'd go so low as to allow someone being taken as hostage."

"Lord Mcdohl, we can't you let bring this world into chaos. So please…" Camus asked nicely.

Back with Tai Ho's ship, the battle was still continuing. Yuber was a lot faster then before and slashing everyone. Geddoe in the meantime, was keeping Jormangand busy. If there was ever a better time to use the engine the boat had, now would be the time. "Everyone, hold on!" Tai Ho yelled. The engine on the back of the boat started to roar and like a rocket, the boat blasted off. Tai Ho turned the boat towards the cargo ship, which was now in flames. The serpent tried to follow, but thanks to the engine Kamandol and Sergei made, they could out run the creature. Yuber couldn't keep his balance and thought it was best to leave. He jumped off the boat and called Jormangand to pick him up. Tai Ho grinned as he could see they were going much faster then the serpent. Everyone else, was holding on to the side of the boat for dear life.

Tir was in a stand hold, he couldn't give up his runes, but to lose the life of someone just because of it? Was it really fair. He took away so many lives before, why should this matter? "Damn." Tir swore.

"So you'll cooperate?" Sasarai asked.

Tir shook his head. "I have no choice."

Sasarai smirked. "You have a lot of nerve doing what you did."

Just as they were about to go down the stairs, an eagle call roared from behind them.

"Soldiers! Fire at the griffon!" Dios yelled.

The archers aimed their arrows at Fubar and fired. Fubar dodged them and Hugo repelled any that couldn't be dodged. "Tir! Use your rune on Sasarai! We'll capture it once he's weak!"

"Alright!" Tir pushed Camus and Miklotov away from him as he made his break to use soul eater on Sasarai. "Soul Eater. Judgment!" Tir shouted.

When Sasarai heard the words soul eater, he used his own True rune to counter attack. "Earth rune - clay guardian." A clear piece of the earth appeared from the floor, like a wall coming from the ground, and absorbed the magic hit.

Tir growled, he can't touch Sasarai with the Earth rune protecting him. What could Tir do? Just as he was thinking, Miklotov slashed Tir in the back, mking him fall forward. "Stop this at once, if you continue, I'll have to kill you."

Tir turned around to meet the blue knight's eyes, and frowned. "I won't give up. Not when people are depending on me."

Just then Geddoe and his group got on board on the ship. "Sorry to crash the party bishop, but we have plans in mind for that rune of yours."

Jormangand rammed the side of the ship and Yuber jumped back on it to meet with the thieves. Fixing his hat, he looked at them and smirked. "I'll finish you off here."

Camus finished chanting a fire spell and sent Fubar and Hugo to the ground. The knights began to attack and everyone charged. Tir, Hugo and Geddoe were outnumbered. There were too many soldiers.

Tir shook his head. "We can't be defeated now. Not now."

"Hungry Friend." Just then, thousands of swords pieced the serpent and sent it screaming into the bottom of the sea.

Everyone turned to the place the attack came from, it was another ship that had just appeared over the horizon. Tir took this as a sign to get what he came for. He used judgment again while Sasarai wasn't looking, followed by Hugo's Final flame and last, Geddoe's Hammer of Raijin. Sasarai screamed and fainted onto the ground.

"Lord Sasarai!" Dios yelled.

Hugo then used the rune crystal and took Sasarai's earth rune "Tir! I got it, lets go!" Hugo jumped on to Fubar as they flew back to the ship, Tir and Geddoe, along with his crew ran back to the cargo boat. Camus and Miklotov ran after them, but another blast struck the ship.

Geddoe and his crew quickly cut the ropes, while Tai Ho got in control of the ship. They steered away while the other three ships tried to follow them. Hugo them used his fire rune one last time to burn parts of the other ships.

Albert looked ahead, he wasn't counting on the thieves to get help so soon, who was on the other boat? "Give some medicine to Sasarai quickly. Ninja girl, wake Chris up."

The ninja girl held Chris close to her and pressed on Chris's neck with two fingertips. Chris moaned and held her head. "What? What happened?"

Borus was still stirred with anger with what they did to Chris. "What were you thinking?" Borus yelled. "I should chop your head off for doing that to Lady Chris."

"We weren't going to actually hurt her. We were using her as bait for Lord Mcdohl."

Chris shook her head. "Me? As bait? Why?"

"Tir seems to have a fondness towards you for some reason, so using you as bait would have increased our chances of capturing him since Thomas was far away."

"Thomas? What do you mean?"

"Thoams is working for Tir."

"What?"

"We don't know the reason either, just that he's working for Tir now."

"I see." Chris sighed. Thomas too? Why did Tir recruit him?

"Now that the plan has failed, it means we're at a greater risk of losing this battle. Yuber, do you know where they are going?"

"Most likely my world?"

"Your world?" Chris asked.

"Yes, the world of emptiness. The temple of Messiah is there. Mcdohl is probably trying to go there."

"Can you transport us there?" Chris asked.

"No. The place with Messiah's temple is off limits, even to me."

"Is there anyway we can get there?"

"Top of the world." Sasarai whispered. Dios was holding Sasarai in his arms, and Sasarai's body was shaking. "The legend of messiah is that on top of the world, there will be the temple. The top of the world is also known as the edge of the world."

Albert nodded. "So that is where we'll go then."

Chris nodded and told the men their new location. "Lets hope we make it before they perform the ceremony."

Yuber smiled. "Don't be stupid, they need all 27 true runes."

"But they took Sasarai's."

"Yes, but they haven't taken mine yet." Yuber said showing his eightfold rune on his right hand.

"You bear a True Rune?" Albert asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, and so does another like me. That man probably already joined them though."

"I see, then we still have a chance to stop them." Chris nodded.

They set sails and started to head north.

Tir and the others greeted their saviors. Thomas and the others gawked as they meet with the people. On the far left, was a white haired woman with blue clothing. Next was Futch, a bit older looking now, with his dragon friend Bright. Beside him was a blonde woman with similar clothing, and had a similar look to Sharon. In the middle was a blonde man with long hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He was tall and well built, he wore a blue turtleneck with the sleeves cute off, and white pants. Like Tir, he too used a staff to fight with. Next, was another woman. She had long brownish hair, tied in a Chinese type of bun. She wore a pink Chinese dress with baggy green pants. Beside her was a dark haired man. He had kind eyes, and wore red clothing similar to Tir. Next was Edge, with the Zodiac sword, and to the right of him was an old man wearing black armor and a blue cape, followed by a blue bandana. Steering the ship was a tanned man with small eyes and black hair with a ponytail. Behind the group was a man dressed in black armor.

"It's good to see you all again." Tir smiled. "Riou, Nanami, Jowy, everyone."

Riou smiled and shook his head. "You had us for quite a scare. We didn't think you'd be taken so easily."

Hugo gasped as soon as he saw Jowy. "Jowy? Jowy Atreides? You're, you're the leader my mother fought with during the Dunan wars."

Jowy smiled. "I see you must be her off spring. Hugo isn't it?"

"Yeah. I was going to be the new chief, but…"

Jowy looked at his friends with large grin, and shook his head. "I understand. We're like that too."

"Really?"

Jowy nodded and then looked at the others. "So who are these people?"

Ace introduced his group. "I'm Ace, and this is Queen, Joker, and over there are Aila and Jacques, and this here is our captain, Geddoe. We're the Southern Frontier Defense Force for Harmonia."

"Harmonia?" Nanami gasped. "Why are you helping Tir then?"

"We have the same goal, that's all." Geddoe frowned.

Tir shook his head. "He's with us for now, so there is no need to worry."

"And the rest?" Riou asked.

"I'm Thomas. This is Cecil, Juan and Emily. We're from Budehuc castle."

"Please to meet you." Nanami smiled. "This is Sierra."

Sierra smiled. "A pleasure."

"She's the first vampire, and has the Blue Moon rune."

"Vampire?" Thomas shuttered. "You mean…"

"Don't worry." Sierra giggled. "I won't bite, unless you upset me."

"Understood madam."

Futch walked up to the group and smiled at them. "I'm glad to see you all again."

"Futch, what are you doing here?"

"I'm escorting Milia to the top of the world. Milia is the leader of the dragon knights."

Milia bowed her head as a greeting. "I'm honored to meet you again Lord Mcdohl."

"I'm glad to see you to." Tir smiled.

"So we meet again." Edge said stepping forward.

"Who is the person beside you?" Hugo asked.

"This is Flik, he accompanied the original owner of the sword."

"Glad to meet you all. I heard of what you did during the Elemental wars." Flik chuckled.

"Over there is Amanda, our sailor, and Pesmerge recently joined us believing we'll meet with Yuber."

Tir smiled and nodded. "We have many things to discuss, I guess."

"Yes. It's been a long journey for all of us." Riou sighed.

When night fell upon the group they all discussed on what they had done. After dinner, Riou and Jowy showed the group the circle rune they captured from Hikusaak.

"Wow." Cecil gasped. "How did you managed to get it? Doesn't Harmonia have one of the strongest armies."

"We had help." Riou smiled.

"From who?"

"A strategist named Shu. He gave us detailed instructions before going to the top of the world."

"So what did you do exactly?" Hugo asked curious.

"First, we had to get into the castle." Nanami said sitting down on a chair. The anxious listeners followed by sitting on the floor. "Shu got us some information on suitable 1st class citizens that we could pose as. We took those people's identities and made pretended to be them until the right time came for us to raid Hikusaak's castle. Luckily, no one noticed, and then the next step was to find out about the security of the area. There were lots of seals, and not to mention guards from the Howling Guild. They wouldn't let us get near Hikusaak."

"So how did you break in?" Aila asked.

"With the help of Leknaat, we managed to break the seals and come in as the 1st class citizens we were posed to be. We collected the True Runes Harmonia had once inside of Hikusaak's castle, and Sierra used an illusion spell with Nash to confuse the guards."

"Nash?" everyone said in a shocked voice.

Sierra snorted. "He's lucky I didn't do anything else with him, that traitor."

Nanami, Riou and Jowy laughed nervously, while everyone else exchanged puzzling looks at one another. "Anyway, when we came half way to Hikusaak, more guards decided to show up. I told Riou and Jowy to go on ahead. They didn't believe me when I said I could take care of myself, but I showed all those bull-headed Harmonian soldiers the meaning of my secret technique.

Riou and Jowy shook their heads. "By the time we got back she was nearly dead. It was a good thing we didn't use our runes to fight Hikusaak."

"You fought Hikusaak?" Ace gasped.

"Sort of." Riou said laughing nervously. "We actually used this." Riou took out a sword from their bag. The sword had the crest of the Sovereign rune.

"Is that?"

"Yes, the Sovereign rune, it can cancel the effect of any rune, that's how we got in so easily. It was a good thing Tir took it along with him when he left the Toran Republic. From then on, we used the rune crystals that the Sindar clan provided for us."

"Wow…" Hugo and Thomas said gazing. "You guys must be awesome."

"We just know how to work well together." Jowy said looking at his friends. "What happened with you though Tir?"

Tir shrugged. "It seemed like there were more complications then I thought, but we managed to get all the runes. How many do we have now?"

"25, counting yours, and the one we just go from Hikusaak."

"So two are still missing." Tir thought.

"We still have some time left." Jowy shrugged.

"What should we do in the meantime?" Hugo asked the two leaders.

Riou and Tir looked at each other and simply nodded. "We'll think of something." they both laughed.

The ship continued to drift forward, and ahead, awaited their fate.


End file.
